Figure 8. Astrocytes induce changes in visual response properties of SOM+ neurons in vivo.
(a) Schematic drawing of targeted cell-attached recordings in SOM+ interneuron, visual stimulation and ChR2-transfected astrocytes. (b) Representative tuning curves of two SOM+ neurons before (Control, black) and after astrocyte stimulation (blue). Dots denote measured firing rates and lines denote fitted curves (error bars denote s.e.m. of 10 responses). (c) Population summary of astrocyte-induced changes in baseline firing rate (circle, individual cell; n=27 from 14 mice. Black circles, cells with no significant changes, n=5. Cross, population average). (d,f) Population summary of astrocyte-induced changes in OSI, DSI and peak firing rate from cells that displayed an increase (d; n=10) or decrease (f; n=12) in baseline firing rate. (e,g) Index (normalized change) in tuning properties after versus before astrocyte stimulation for cells with an increase (e; n=10) or decrease (g; n=12) in baseline. *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001; Wilcoxon test. Error bars indicate s.e.m.