Fig. 1: Astrocytic Cx43 deletion compromises lactate homeostasis and neuronal excitability.

A The diagram of experimental settings. B Immobility time in the TST and FST, and sucrose preference in the SPT. n = 8. C Representative images of ¹H MRS spectra acquired from the PrL of GfaABC1D-Control and GfaABC1D-Cre mice. D The relative metabolite concentrations in the PrL of GfaABC1D-Control and GfaABC1D-Cre mice. n = 6. E The level of lactate in the PrL detected by the lactate assay kit. n = 5. F Quantitative glycolytic capacity of PrL by Seahorse XF analysis. n = 5. G The waveform of representative putative pyramidal neuron (RS) units. H The representative firing rate histogram of pyramidal neurons in the PrL. I Firing rate and percent of spikes in bursting mode recorded from the PrL in the GfaABC1D-Control and GfaABC1D-Cre mice. n = 53 from 4 mice per group. J Statistical maps of voxel t values of ALFF and ReHo comparisons of two chosen groups. The color bars were used to signify the t-value of the group analysis (the color is brighter; the t value is higher). K Connectome map indicating significant changes (P < 0.05) in functional connectivity: outer circle lines represent brain regions of the respective color as indicated in the legend. L Functional network alterations are depicted in this schematic, showing the varying degrees of functional connectivity between node pairs through lines of thicker widths corresponding to higher Z-score values. M Representative brain volumes of resting-state functional connectivity in the limbic system. Arrows indicate directionality of connections from the indicated seed regions; arrow color reflects type of connection change based on type-of-connection legend. Two-tailed Student’s t-test or Welch’s t-test were performed between two groups; Mann–Whitney test in (I) (Burst activity). All data represent the mean ± SEM. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001, ^****P < 0.0001.