Fig. 3.

Nucleotide-induced [Ca²⁺]_i increases in cells of the anterior telencephalon. a Overview of a head of larval X. laevis (a ₁). The black rectangle indicates the location of the anterior telencephalon. An acute slice preparation of the telencephalon is shown in a ₂. The black rectangle indicates the approximate location of the Fura-2/AM stained slice shown in a₃ (brightened fluorescence image acquired at rest). b Fura-2/AM stained slice preparation (the same as shown in a₃) with the area of the OB shaded in red, and the PVZ shaded in green (b ₁). Pixel correlation map of the same slice (see “Materials and methods” section for details) obtained upon application of 2MeSATP (5 μM; b₂). The ventricle appears to respond as a whole. This results from responses of ependymal cells from the floor of the lateral ventricle. The 2MeSATP-induced [Ca²⁺]_i transients of six individual cells of the OB (see black dots in the red-shaded area in b₁) and the PVZ (see black dots in the green shaded area in b₁) are shown in b₃ and b₄, respectively. The 2MeSATP-induced mean [Ca²⁺]_i transients (±SEM) of all clearly identifiable responsive cells of the OB (red traces; n = 138) and the cells of the PVZ (green traces; n = 32) of this slice are shown in b₅. Application of ATP (50 μM) to the same slice preparation induced comparable [Ca²⁺]_i transients in the same cells as above (b ₆). (c) Mean [Ca²⁺]_i transients of responding OB and PVZ cells (n = 120) remain stable after repeated applications of ATP (100 μM; interstimulus interval: 5 min). Abbreviations: OE olfactory epithelium, AT anterior telencephalon, ON olfactory nerve, MOB main olfactory bulb, AOB accessory olfactory bulb, PVZ periventricular zone, gl glomerular layer/glomeruli, mcl mitral cell layer, gcl granule cell layer, lv lateral ventricle