Fig. 4: Chronic stress does not affect postsynaptic function in dmPFC synapses targeting BLA PN.
From: Identification of a prefrontal cortex-to-amygdala pathway for chronic stress-induced anxiety
a Representative traces of EPSCs in dmPFC↔BLA PNs evoked by optogenetic activation of dmPFC inputs at −70 and +40 mV. Scale bar = 50 ms, 100 pA. Time points for determination of AMPA and NMDA receptor currents were indicated with arrows and dashed lines. b Summary plots of AMPA/NMDA ratio in a. Circles represent individual data points. Control, n = 14 neurons/5 mice; CRS, n = 11 neurons/4 mice. c Same as in a except that the data were from dmPFC→BLA PNs. Scale bar = 50 ms, 100 pA. d Summary plots of AMPA/NMDA ratio in c. Control, n = 16 neurons/6 mice; CRS, n = 13 neurons/4 mice. e Representative traces of light-evoked EPSCs in dmPFC↔BLA PNs when the holding potentials were increased from −80 to +40 mV at a step of 20 mV. Time points for determination of AMPA and NMDA receptor currents were indicated with arrows/dashed lines. Scale bar = 25 ms, 50 pA. f, g Current–voltage plots of the light-evoked AMPA (f) and NMDA (g) receptor currents in dmPFC↔BLA PNs. Current amplitudes were normalized to that recorded at −80 (f) or +40 mV (g). Control, n = 14 neurons/4 mice; CRS, n = 12 neurons/4 mice. h Same as in e except that the data were from dmPFC→BLA PNs. Scale bar = 25 ms, 50 pA. i, j Current–voltage plots of the light-evoked AMPA (i) and NMDA (j) receptor currents in dmPFC→BLA PNs. Current amplitudes were normalized to that recorded at −80 (i) or +40 mV (j). Control, n = 13 neurons/5 mice; CRS, n = 14 neurons/5 mice. k Representative traces of the asynchronized quantal EPSCs (qEPSCs) in dmPFC↔BLA PNs recorded when external Ca2+ was replaced by same concentration of strontium (Sr2+). The asterisks indicate detected qEPSC. Scale bar = 40 ms, 20 pA. l, m Summary plots of the frequency (l) and quantal size (m) of qEPSCs in dmPFC↔BLA PNs. Control, n = 15 neurons/5 mice; CRS, n = 13 neurons/4 mice. n Same as in k except that the data were from dmPFC→BLA PNs. Scale bar = 40 ms, 20 pA. o, p Summary plots of the frequency (o) and quantal size (p) of qEPSCs in dmPFC→BLA PNs. Control, n = 17 neurons/6 mice; CRS, n = 15 neurons/5 mice. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistics are shown in Supplementary Table 1. n.s., not significant; **p < 0.01. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
