Fig. 8: Lowering intracellular calcium concentration in Kis neuron cell body mimicks the ACh-induced current amplitude recorded in KdrKis neurons.

a Comparative histogram illustrating the steady-state resting intracellular calcium level (expressed as ratio 340/380 nm) measured in Fura-2-loaded Kis (n = 11) and KdrKis (n = 36) neuron cell bodies. Bars represent mean ± S.E.M. Statistical test used was the Mann–Whitney test, *p < 0.05. b Comparative histogram illustrating the effect of the internal pipette solution containing low intracellular calcium concentration (0.01 µM) on the ACh-induced current (n = 9) amplitude in Kis neurons (n = 5) compared to KdrKis (n = 9) and Kis neurons in control conditions. Note that lowering intracellular calcium concentration increases the ACh-induced current amplitude in Kis neurons, an amplitude, which is very close to that of recorded in KdrKis neurons in control. Bars represent mean ± S.E.M. Statistical test used was the Mann–Whitney test, *p < 0.05, ns, non-significant. In all cases, the number of experiments (n) are biologically independent samples.