Fig. 3: Neuronal hypotrophy and enhanced inhibitory currents in layer II/III pyramidal cells from the mPFC of ELS mice.

a Peripheral injection of AAV9.hSyn.GFP via the tail vein leads to sparse but strong labeling of neurons in the mouse brain in a Golgi-like pattern. Insets show detail of neurons in layer II/III and V/VI of the mPFC. Scale bar (left) 1 mm, (right) 100 µm. b Schematic representation of acquired GFP-labeled mPFC neurons from layer II/III and neuronal complexity of pyramidal neurons in layers II/III in the mPFC is reduced in ELS mice, as assessed by Sholl analysis; CTR n = 25/3 neurons/mice, ELS n = 17/3 neurons/mice. c Schematic representation of acquired GFP-labeled mPFC neurons from layers V/VI; Sholl analysis of pyramidal neurons in this region do not show differences in complexity when comparing neurons from ELS with CTR mice; CTR n = 9/3 neurons/mice, ELS n = 15/3 neurons/mice. d Traces from sEPSC from CTR and ELS adult neurons. Scale bar, 20 pA, 100 ms. Unaltered sEPSC (e) amplitude and (f) frequency of events in neurons from ELS mice when compared with CTR; cumulative distribution plots for individual excitatory events are plotted and summary data are shown as insets; CTR n = 35 cells, ELS n = 21 cells. g Traces from sIPSC from CTR and ELS adult neurons. Scale bar, 20 pA, 200 ms. Pyramidal neurons in the mPFC display (h) an enhancement in inhibitory currents, but (i) no change in the frequency of inhibitory events; cumulative distribution plots for individual inhibitory events are plotted and summary data are shown as insets; CTR n = 36 cells, ELS n = 20 cells. Statistical comparisons were performed using two-way repeated measures ANOVA (for b and c) or two-tailed unpaired t-test. Significance was set at, *p < 0.05. Data in bar graphs are presented as means ± SEM.