Figure 4 .

Pharmacological manipulation of GluTs alters SB dynamics. (A–F) shows 1-min snapshots of firing activities obtained from 6 different cortical networks. FRTHs generated with a bin size of 5 ms are shown above the raster plot of detected spikes. The intervals between each snapshot of a network, shown in the order as indicated by the arrow marks, were at least separated by 45 min. The first snapshot of each network shows its reference activities level. Network in D shows the time effect on network dynamics in a long duration recording. Without any pharmacological treatment network maintained similar firing and bursting patterns as shown in the interval of 1 h. Network in A, after treatment with DL-TBOA (10 μM), resulted in prolonged and frequent SBs. The dormant states were shorter and contained with lesser asynchronous activities. Similar effects were observed after DHK (GLT-1 specific, 200 μM) treatment in network in B. The only difference between DHK and DL-TBOA was an increase of asynchronous activities during the dormant state under DHK. Specific augmentation of GLT-1 of network in C with GT949 (10 μM) resulted in shortening of SBs. Role of GLT-1 was further tested in disinhibited state of cortical networks. Disinhibition with Bic (GABA inhibitor, 10 μM), shown in network in E, resulted in more robust SB patterns with clear active and dormant states of network. Resulting SBs were longer than reference. Further DHK (200 μM) addition enhanced SB frequency and reduced SB duration at the same time. Enhancing GLT-1 function with GT949 (10 μM) treatment in disinhibited state (network in F), resulted in shorter SBs.