Fig. 3

TRAPed cells over-represent subsets of highly active neurons to the inducing stimulus. a Schematic representation of the three neuronal groups from two experimental groups. We recorded from TRAPed and non-TRAPed neurons in mice stimulated with WC (TRAP^WC and non-TRAP^WC, respectively) and from TRAPed neurons in mice that were not stimulated with sound (TRAP^NS, green). Example photomicrograph of the electrode (green) and BFP signal (blue) is shown from each group. Scale bar, 10 μm. b Top: average PSTHs of all neurons in response to WC from three neuronal groups. Bottom: raster plots of all the recorded neurons (TRAP^WC; n = 33 neurons, N = 8 mice, non-TRAP^WC; n = 28 neurons, N = 8 mice, TRAP^NS; n = 29 neurons, N = 9 mice). Each raster of each neuron is composed of 60 trials. Red ticks correspond to spikes that were statistically above the baseline rate around a syllable. The voltage trace of the WC stimulus is shown beneath the rasters. c Plots of evoked vs spontaneous spike rates from all the recorded neurons in all groups shown in (b). Each dot indicates the mean firing rate of a single neuron. d Plots of the mean ( ± SEM) evoked vs spontaneous spike rates of the neurons shown in (b) and (c). e Basic response properties to WC of all neurons from the three groups. Each circle represents an individual cell. The line indicates the mean. Spontaneous rate was not different between groups (p = 0.29, Kruskal–Wallis test). TRAPed neurons in the TRAP^WC mice have higher evoked spike rate and responded to a higher number of syllables in the call as compared to the other groups (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns, not significant, post hoc Fisher’s LSD test after significant Kruskal–Wallis test). f Best frequencies (BFs) were not significantly different among the three groups (p = 0.89, Kruskal–Wallis test)