Fig. 3

Postsynaptic GABAergic currents in motoneurons are unchanged following hibernation. A Example voltage clamp traces of GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs; holding potential = -60 mV; 250 nM TTX, 10 µM DNQX, 5 µM strychnine) from control (black) and hibernated (blue) identified vagal motor neurons in brain slice (middle right box). Addition of 50 µM bicuculline (Bic) to the bath eliminated mIPSCs in both groups, confirming GABAergic identity. B Cumulative probability histograms of mIPSC amplitudes from control neurons (black line), hibernated neurons (blue line) appeared nearly identical. Accordingly, there was no statistical difference between distributions from control and hibernated cells by Kolomogorov-Smirnov test (p = 0.5041). C Summary data. There was no statistical difference in mIPSC frequency, average amplitude, rise time, charge transfer, and neuronal input resistance by unpaired t-test (p > 0.05; n = 16 control cells; n = 16 hibernated cells). Error bars are standard deviation (SD)