Figure 5.

Membrane properties of basolateral amygdalar neurons retrogradely labeled by rAAV2-retro and ΔL rabies virus

(A) Experimental design. rAAV2-retro-hSyn-Cre or RVΔL-5Cre was injected into the nucleus accumbens of reporter mice. 4 or 12 weeks after injection, brain slices were prepared for whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from labeled cells in the basolateral amygdala (BLA).

(B) Confocal images of BLA neurons labeled by the two viruses following the two survival times.

(C–G) None of the four groups (two viruses, two survival times) differed significantly from the others in any of the measured membrane properties: resting membrane potential (C), membrane capacitance (D), rheobase (E), input resistance (F), or action potential number vs. input current (G). Each dot in (C)–(F) represents the value for a single recorded BLA neuron. Dots and error bars in (G) represent the mean (±SEM) firing frequencies in response to a series of current injections ranging from 0 to 350 pA in increments of 50 pA. 3 mice were used per experimental group, with numbers of recorded neurons as follows: ΔL 4 weeks: 25 cells from 9 slices; ΔL 12 weeks: 28 cells from 10 slices; AAV 4 weeks: 28 cells from 9 slices; AAV 12 weeks: 27 cells from 9 slices. See STAR Methods, quantification and statistical analysis, for details of comparisons.