Figure 3.

Morphological and functional abnormalities in the Dcx-KO hippocampus. Upper images show coronal slices of the adult Dcx-KO hippocampus (right) compared to wild-type (WT, left). Red arrows in the KO image point to the internal (upper) and external (lower) CA3 layers. Whole cell recordings and biocytin fills were performed to characterize internal (int) and external (ext) pyramidal cells. (A) WT cell; (B) KO external cell; (C) KO internal cell (taken and modified from Bazelot et al., 2012 Figure 5, published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd). Analyses of cell morphologies revealed reduced lengths of apical dendrites for external layer cells and reduced lengths of basal dendrites for internal layer cells (Bazelot et al., 2012). Red labeling on dendrites schematizes mossy fiber innervation in the form of post-synaptic thorny excrescence-like spines. Note non-continuous innervation on apical dendrites of external layer cells, and basal as well as apical innervation on internal layer cells (schematizing data presented in Bazelot et al., 2012, Figure 4). (D) Whole cell recordings taken from Bazelot et al. (2012) Figure 6 (published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd) revealed that KO cells are more excitable than their WT counterparts. In response to identical depolarizing current injection, KO cells fired at higher frequencies.