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. 2021 Mar 22;15:658343. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2021.658343

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Transient astrocytic Gq activation in the anterior cortex enhances long-term object recognition memory. (A) Transient activation protocol. On the training day, WT or strong TG mice were placed in an open-chamber for 10 min, where two identical objects (F1 and F2) were placed apart. Mice were pre-treated with retinal. Transient LED illuminations (duration 3 s, interval 3 min, four times) were delivered during the training period. On the test day (1 day or 14 days after training), mice were exposed to one of the pre-familiarized objects (F1) and a novel object (N) for 10 min without LED illumination. In the 1-day test, both WT (black) and TG (green) mice similarly increased relative contact time to the novel object (p < 0.0002 and p < 0.08 paired t-test vs. relative contact time to F2 object in the training, 13 WT mice and 11 TG strong mice). In the 14-day test, TG mice still retained the novel object preference (p < 0.005, paired t-test, 11 strong TG mice), whereas WT mice did not (p > 0.31, paired t-test, eight WT mice). (B) Longer activation protocol. The training procedure is the same as in A, except for longer LED illuminations (30 s) delivered. In the 14-day test, TG mice showed the novel object preference (p < 0.04, paired t-test, nine strong TG mice). (C) Transient activation without retinal pre-treatment. The training procedure is the same as in A, except for pre-injection of vehicle instead of retinal. In the 14-day test, TG mice did not show the significant novel object preference (p > 0.1, paired t-test, eight strong TG mice). (D) Transient activation with DPCPX protocol. The training procedure is the same as in A, except for additional adenosine A1R antagonist DPCPX pre-treatment. In the presence of DPCPX, the transient LED illuminations did not induce the novel object preference 14 days later (p > 0.82 and p > 0.82, paired t-test, nine WT mice and nine strong TG mice), whereas novel object preference was expressed 1 day after familiarization (p < 0.02 and p < 0.04, paired t-test, 9 WT mice and nine strong TG mice). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.