Fig. 9: Disruption of astrocytic CB1R-mediated signaling leads to a transient deficit in updating spatial memory. | Nature Communications

Fig. 9: Disruption of astrocytic CB1R-mediated signaling leads to a transient deficit in updating spatial memory.

From: An astrocytic signaling loop for frequency-dependent control of dendritic integration and spatial learning

Fig. 9

a Passive place avoidance test with two possible positions for a triggered air puff (each session 10 min). b Similar air puff activation during acquisition (day 1) in sham and aCB1KO mice (6.59 ± 0.73 vs. 6.13 ± 0.62, n = 17 and 15 animals, p = 0.62, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test). Activations binned into five-minute time intervals (small insets) decrease over time (n = 17 and 15 animals, p < 0.00001, two-way repeated measures ANOVA) without a difference between groups (n = 17 and 15 animals, p = 0.64, two-way repeated measures ANOVA). Day 2: no difference in the total number of activations (1.41 ± 0.21 vs. 1.40 ± 0.34, n = 17 and 15 animals, p = 0.73, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test). Removal of air puff from position A (day 3): number of transitions at position A increased over time for both groups (small inset, sham control: 2.06 ± 0.66 vs. 3.94 ± 1.01, aCB1KO: 2.33 ± 0.70 vs. 4.93 ± 0.91, n = 17 and 15 animals, time p = 0.00031, treatment p = 0.55, time x treatment p = 0.52, two-way repeated measures ANOVA); no significant difference between groups (6.00 ± 1.50 vs. 7.27 ± 1.45, n = 17 and 15 animals, p = 0.45, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test). c Left panel: on day 4 (reversal), the air puff was moved to position B. Animals passed position A without a difference between groups (transitions, 3.47 ± 1.04 vs. 3.27 ± 1.02, n = 17 and 15 animals, p = 0.77, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test). aCB1KO mice activated the air puff at position B more frequently than sham control mice (3.65 ± 0.50 vs. 5.93 ± 0.61, n = 17 and 15, p = 0.0066, two-sided Student’s t test). Right panel: number of air puff activations binned in five minutes intervals, significant effect of time and group (n = 17 and 15 animals, time: p = 0.0000092, treatment: p = 0.0066, time x treatment: p = 0.072, two-way repeated measure ANOVA). aCB1KO mice activated the air puff more often during the first 5 min compared to sham mice (2.35 ± 0.33 vs. 4.07 ± 0.35, p = 0.0065, post-hoc Tukey test) but not during the last 5 min (1.29 ± 0.33 vs. 1.87 ± 0.35, p = 0.64, post-hoc Tukey test). Sham mice did not show a difference over time (2.35 ± 0.33 vs. 1.29 ± 0.33, p = 0.13, post-hoc Tukey test) while aCB1KO mice did (4.07 ± 0.35 vs. 1.87 ± 0.35, p = 0.00063, post-hoc Tukey test). d Out of all mice activating the air puff at position B ≤ 3 times (n = 13 mice), i.e. mice that avoided the new puff position quickly, 76.9 % were sham (n = 10) and 23.1 % aCB1KO mice (n = 3) (p = 0.036, two-sided Fisher’s exact test). Data are expressed and displayed as mean ± s.e.m. or displayed in box plots. The box indicates the 25th and 75th, the whiskers the 5th and 95th percentiles, the horizontal line in the box the median and the mean is represented by a filled circle. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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