Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 4.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2013 Sep 4;79(5):970–986. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.043

Figure 1. Thalamocortical neurotransmission is completely disrupted in ThVGdKO mice.

Figure 1

(A) Schematic diagram of the in vitro thalamocortical slice used to examine thalamocortical neurotransmission. Stimulating electrode (stim) was placed in the ventrobasal thalamus (VB) and whole-cell recording electrode (Rec) in L4 of cortex. (B) Example whole-cell recordings from ThVGdKO and littermate controls at P9-P11. To isolate thalamocortical synapse mini-EPSCs, Ca2+ (left side) was replaced by Sr2+ (right side) in the extracellular medium, which desynchronizes neurotransmitter release. (C) Evoked mini-EPSC frequency in P9-P11 ThVGdKO and their littermate controls (mean ± SEM). n=6 for ThVGdKO, n=3 for each control genotype. *** P < 0.001, ns: non-significant. (D) Quantification of mini-EPSC amplitude in P9-P11 ThVGdKO mice in comparison to littermate controls, *** P < 0.01. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. (E) Cumulative frequency plot of the amplitude of evoked mini-EPSCs at thalamocortical synapses in P9-11 ThVGdKO mice and their littermate controls. (F) Comparison of evoked mini-EPSCs frequency in control and ThVGdKO mice between P4 and P15 (mean ± SEM). No thalamocortical response could be evoked at P4-P6 in ThVGdKO mice, and the frequency of evoked mini-EPSCs remains very low in ThVGdKO in comparison to littermate controls through P15. n=4 for ThVGdKO at P4-P6, n=6 at P9-P11, n=3 at P13-P15. n=5 for controls at P4-P6, n=12 at P9-P11 and n=3 at P13-P15, *** P < 0.001. (G) Comparison of evoked mini-EPSC amplitude in ThVGdKO and control mice between P4 and P15. In ThVGdKO mice, mini-EPSC amplitudes were much smaller than in control mice through P15, *** P < 0.001. (H) Schematic drawing of in vivo local field potential (LFP) recording using a multi-site silicon probe in the somatosensory cortex (upper panel) while air puffs were delivered to the contralateral snout (lower panel). (I) Multiphasic LFP events were recorded during air puff stimulation of contralateral whiskers in Vglut1−/−;Vglut2 fl /−and ThVGdKO mice. No stimulated LFP signal was detected in the somatosensory cortex of ThVGdKO mice.