Figure 1.

Kainate (KA) increases the evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (eEPSCs) amplitude at parallel fibers-Purkinje cells (PF-PuC) synapses of the cerebellum. (A) Time course of KA (3 μM) effect on eEPSCs amplitude in the absence (circles) and presence of NBQX (squares). Inset show traces before and after 4 min KA perfusion in the absence (1, 2) and in the presence of 10 μM NBQX (1′, 2′). (B) Quantification of modulation observed in (A) and dose dependency. (C) KA (3 μM) perfusion produces a decrease of the paired pulse ratio, inset shows scaled representative traces. (D) Effect of KA on the number of failures of NMDA receptor-mediated currents. (E) Effect of KA (3 μM) on NMDA and AMPA receptor-mediated currents, respectively. Note that the effect of kainate on these currents is indistinguishable. The number of slices (from two to three mice) is indicated in parenthesis at the top of each bar. Results are expressed as means ± SEM (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, Student’s t-test).