Figure 5. , CMS decreased AP firing in VTA dopamine neurons in midbrain slices.
(A) Ih currents recorded at −130 mV in NAc-projecting VTA dopamine neurons in both control (***p<0.001, n = 6 cells from three mice) and CMS groups (***p<0.001, n = 6 cells from three mice) were abolished by the Ih channel blocker ZD7288 (30 μM). (B) Representative AP firing in cell-attached recordings from NAc-projecting VTA dopamine neurons in control and CMS slices before and after ZD7288 (30 µM). (C) The AP firing rate was significantly decreased in the CMS group (n = 13 cells from three mice) compared with the control group (n = 12 cells from four mice; ***p<0.001). ZD7288 significantly decreased the firing rate in both control (n = 11 cells from three mice) and CMS (n = 12 cells from five mice) groups (*p<0.5, ***p<0.001). The mean firing rate was not significantly different between control (n = 11 cells from three mice) and CMS (n = 12 cells from four mice) groups following ZD7288 (p=0.382). (D) The firing rate (FR) suppression (%) by ZD7288 in the control group (n = 11 cells from three mice) was significantly higher than that of the CMS group (n = 12 cells from five mice; **p=0.004).