Fig. 1.
Female CeA spontaneous GABAergic transmission has faster postsynaptic kinetics. (A, B) Representative GABAA-mediated sIPSCs of CeA neurons from naive and dependent female (A) and male (B) rats. (C) There is no main sex difference and no significant difference between female naïve and dependent CeA baseline sIPSC frequency. However, dependent male baseline sIPSC frequency (1.95 ± 0.22 Hz) is significantly higher than naïve male (1.28 ± 0.15 Hz). (D) There are no significant differences between female and male naïve and dependent CeA baseline sIPSC amplitude. (E) Female naïve CeA baseline sIPSC rise time (2.25 ± 0.05 ms) is significantly lower than male naïve (2.60 ± 0.08 ms) and female (2.61 ± 0.06 ms) and male dependent (2.64 ± 0.06 ms) rise times. (F) Females have faster sIPSC decay time (naïve, 6.37 ± 0.34 ms; dependent, 7.39 ± 0.39 ms) than males (naïve, 7.43 ± 0.38 ms; dependent, 8.51 ± 0.41 ms) and naïve animals have faster decay time than alcohol dependent animals. n = 34–49 neurons per group. *Significant difference (P < 0.05).