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. 2017 Nov 27;10:396. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2017.00396

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Temporal activation of Rac1 induced structural changes in cultured astrocytes and impaired fear memory acquisition. (A) Representative images of primary cultured astrocytes in different time-points following light stimulation. Red circles represent the spots of light stimulation. Light activation of Rac1-PA in an astrocytic process induced the generation of protrusions and increased cell area. (B) Phtoactivation of Rac1 significantly increased cell surface areas in cultured astrocytes (n = 6 per group). (C) Experimental design. Five CS-US paired conditioning trials with 473 nm light simulation in the BLA infected by AAV expressing Rac1-PA, Rac1-C450A, or mCherry during conditioning. (D–F) Light activation of Rac1-PA in the BLA attenuated fear memory acquisition. Similarly, light simulation of Rac1-PA impaired both contextual and cued fear memories (mCherry: n = 14, Rac1-C450A: n = 12, Rac1-PA: n = 13). *p < 0.05, #p < 0.05. Scale bar, 10 μm.