BLA neurons are more excitable and have smaller AHPs in females. A, Representative traces of BLA neuron firing responses in response to a range of depolarizing current steps in BLA neurons from male (top) and female rats (bottom). B, Representative traces of AHPs recorded from BLA neurons of male (black) and female rats (gray) following a train of 5 APs. C, BLA neurons recorded from females were more excitable than males over a range of current steps (left; main effect of sex, p = 0.0002, F(1,217) = 14.18, N = 17 neurons males, N = 16 neurons females, two-way ANOVA), and this coincided with BLA neurons from females having a smaller medium and slow afterhyperpolarization amplitude (mAHP and sAHP, respectively; main effect of sex, p = 0.0034, F(1,42) = 9.65, N = 12 neurons males, N = 11 neurons females, two-way ANOVA). D, Representative traces of the AHP current (IAHP) measured in BLA neurons from male (black) and female rats (gray) evoked by a brief voltage step. E, The amplitude of the medium and slow IAHP currents (IAHP(m) and IAHP(s)) is significantly lower in BLA neurons recorded from female rats compared with males (main effect of sex, p = 0.0022, F(1,29) = 11.32, N = 17 neurons males, N = 14 neurons females, two-way ANOVA).