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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 30.
Published in final edited form as: Neuroscience. 2014 Jul 30;282:176–197. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.07.034

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Dopamine neurons burst differently between in vivo and ex vivo preparations. Top panel: representative trace showing spontaneous bursting of a dopamine neuron in vivo in a chloral hydrate anesthetized rat. Bottom panel: representative trace showing bursting of a dopamine neuron recorded in cell-attached configuration in the ex vivo tissue slice preparation. Bursting was induced by iontophoretic application of D-aspartic acid in the presence of glycine in the perfusion bath. In vivo, firing activity consists of irregular single spikes interspersed with short (2-5) spike bursts. In contrast, in ex vivo slices dopamine neurons fire in an extremely regular pacemaker-like fashion with induced bursts consisting of many spikes and being followed by a long post-burst pause. In vivo trace collected in our lab; ex vivo trace provided by Dr. Michael Beckstead.