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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Jul 5;85(3):189–201. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.06.019

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Chronic restraint stress (CRS) increases excitatory transmission in basolateral amygdala (BLA) projection neurons (PNs) not targeting dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (BLA↛dmPFC). (A) Representative traces showing miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in BLA PNs targeting dmPFC (BLA→dmPFC) (scale bar = 1 second, 10 pA). (B, C) Cumulative probability of the interevent interval (B) and amplitude (C) of mEPSCs in BLA→dmPFC PNs. Average mEPSC frequency and amplitude (inset). n = 10 neurons/5 control mice, n = 10 neurons/5 CRS-exposed mice. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for EPSC frequency: p = .207. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for EPSC amplitude: p = .759. (D) Representative traces showing mEPSCs in BLA↛dmPFC PNs (scale bar = 1 s, 10 pA). (E, F) Cumulative probability of the interevent interval (E) and amplitude (F) of mEPSCs in BLA→dmPFC PNs. Average mEPSC frequency and amplitude (inset). n = 10 neurons/5 control mice, n = 10 neurons/5 CRS-exposed mice. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for EPSC frequency: p < .001. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for EPSC amplitude: p = .362. t test: *p < .05. (G) Representative traces showing electrically evoked EPSCs in BLA→dmPFC and BLA↛dmPFC PNs (2 stimuli separated by 50 ms) (scale bar = 20 ms, 150 pA). (H) Average paired pulse ratio (PPR) in BLA→dmPFC and BLA↛dmPFC PNs. PN group 3 CRS two-way analysis of variance: interaction (F1,47 = 0.10, p = .755), main effect of PN group (F1,47 = 0.07, p = .796), main effect of CRS (F1,47 = 0.36, p = .550). For BLA→dmPFC PNs, n = 12 neurons/5 control mice, n = 13 neurons/5 CRS-exposed mice. For BLA↛dmPFC PNs, n = 12 neurons/5 control mice, n = 14 neurons/5 CRS-exposed mice. (I, J) Representative traces showing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor–mediated currents in BLA→dmPFC (I) and BLA↛dmPFC (J) PNs during their progressive blockage by repetitive electric stimuli in the presence of MK-801. The first, fifth, 10th, 20th, 40th, and 80th current traces shown sequentially from top to bottom (scale bar = 200 ms, 150 pA). (K, L) N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor–mediated current amplitude in the presence of MK-801 as a function of stimulus number (first current amplitude set to 100%). Average tau values (inset). For BLA→dmPFC PNs, n = 8 neurons/4 control mice, n = 7 neurons/4 CRS-exposed mice. t test: p = .955. For BLA↛dmPFC PNs, n = 7 neurons/4 control mice, n = 7 neurons/5 CRS-exposed mice. t test: p = .899. Data are means ± SEM.