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. 2022 Apr 20;110(8):1385–1399.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.01.012

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Peptidergic EW neuron properties are modulated by progesterone and are required for the action of progesterone on preparatory nesting

(A) Progesterone implantation in virgin mice. Subcutaneous implantation of progesterone triggers the onset of preparatory nesting by itself. The effect of the implants on preparatory nesting is blunted in Cart-Cre lesioned mice compared with WT controls.

(B) Quantification of nests scores following implantation in WT controls and Cart-Cre lesioned mice. Nest scores are significantly reduced in lesioned mice over controls.

(C) Only 22% of lesioned mice transition to preparatory nesting 2 weeks after implantation instead of 71% of control mice.

(D) Patch recording in acute slices of the EWcpCART+ neurons in Cart-Cre mice injected with an AAV1-DIO-eYFP virus to visually guide the patch pipette (D–I). Spontaneous tonic firing and excitatory postsynaptic currents (spontaneous EPSC) at resting membrane potential and −70 mV respectively.

(E) Evoked firing at the −70 mV holding potential reveals 3 types of responses in the CART+ population: repetitive regular firing, irregular firing, and transient bursting neurons.

(F) Section at the level of the EW nucleus immunolabeled for CART and mPRβ or mPRγ, showing expression of membrane progesterone receptors in some CART neurons (arrows).

(G) Firing frequency at resting membrane potential of EWcpCART+ neurons, showing a decrease of the spontaneous firing rate 15 min after the application of progesterone at 1 μM. Frequency changes are represented in % of control measured at the onset of the recording in control condition (DMSO) or at the time of drug application.

(H) Conversion of the evoked firing, 20 min following the application of progesterone, from repetitive or irregular to bursting firing.

(I) Summary of the evoked firing conversions observed for all recorded cells.

Scale bars are 50 μm. ∗ P < 0.05, ∗∗ P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗ P < 0.001. All data are presented as mean ± SEM. Wilcoxon’s signed rank test (A) and unpaired Mann-Whitney ranked U test (B and C). See also Figures S7 and S8.