Extended Data Fig. 2: In vivo responses to individual pup calls.
From: Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries
a, Location and firing rate of cell-attached (n = 19 neurons, N = 8 dams) and whole-cell (n = 1) recordings of ChR2+ OT+ neurons and ChR2− neurons (OT−, cell-attached: n = 16 neurons, N = 8 dams; whole-cell: n = 2, N = 2). b, Sample traces of whole-cell recordings of one ChR2+ (OT+; upper trace) and one ChR2− (OT−; lower trace) neuron during call playback (‘Calls’). Pink bars, individual pup calls. c, Left, Cell-attached recording of one ChR2+ (OT+) neuron before pup-call onset (1, ‘Pre’), and around 2 min after call onset (2, ‘Post’). Right, Peristimulus time histogram. Bins: 20 s. d, Timeline of ChR2+ (OT+; n = 12 neurons) and ChR2− (OT−; n = 11) responses. Period before (1, ‘Pre’) and after (2, ‘Post’) pup-call onset. e,f, Sample traces of whole-cell recordings of one ChR2+ (OT+; e) and one ChR2− (OT−; f) neuron showing baseline spiking activity preceding onset of pup calls (1, ‘Pre’, upper trace), activity during playback of a set of pup calls (‘Calls’, middle trace) and activity after pup calls playback (2, ‘Post’, lower trace). Note increased firing rate for ChR2+ (OT+) neuron but not ChR2− (OT−) neuron. g, ChR2+ (OT+) did not respond to individual pup calls within a set. ‘Pre’, average spiking rate of cell-attached recordings during all baseline periods immediately preceding each call within the set. ‘Call’, average spiking rate during pup-call stimulus for each call within the set. Neither ChR2+ (OT+; n = 9 neurons, N = 6 dams, p = 0.38, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank two-tailed test), nor ChR2− (OT−; n = 9, N = 5, p = 0.30) neurons increased their firing rate during individual calls (‘Call’) compared to baseline (‘Pre’). h–j, ChR2+ (OT+) did not respond to presentation of individual pup calls on a trial-by-trial basis. h, Sample traces of cell-attached recordings of one ChR2+ (OT+), one ChR2− (OT−) and one unidentified PVN neuron, as well as whole-cell recording of a PVN neuron during trial-by-trial individual pup-call presentation. i, No increase in the firing rates of either ChR2+ (OT+; n = 8 neurons, N = 2 dams, p = 0.38, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank two-tailed test), ChR2− (OT−; n = 7, N = 3, p = 0.08), or unidentified PVN (cell-attached: n = 26, N = 13; whole-cell: n = 6, N = 4, p = 0.48) neurons during individual pup calls (‘Call’) compared to baseline (‘Pre’) on a trial-by-trial basis. j, No difference in the z-scores of spiking responses of cell-attached and whole-cell recordings during individual pup calls in ChR2+ (OT+; n = 8, N = 2, p = 0.30, one-way ANOVA), ChR2− (OT−; n = 7, N = 4), and unidentified PVN (cell-attached: n = 21, N = 11; whole-cell: n = 6, N = 4) neurons. Data reported as mean ± s.e.m. *P < 0.05.
