Fig. 4

Disrupting the specific cytosolic structural organization of dormant neurons can unmask dendritic surface area and calcium spikes. a Current traces from the same neuron ’pre’ (black) and ’post’ (orange) micro-electrical stimulation. The cell was voltage-clamped at –60 mV and a voltage ramp from –120 mV to +60 mV was applied before and after stimulation. Insets; biocytin labelling of the same cell (left) and pharmacological blockage of somatically recorded spikes with the calcium channel blocker nickel from another cell (right). b–c Summary data of the membrane capacitance (C _m t ₍₁₀₎ = 3.56, p = 0.005, n = 11; paired t test) and input resistance (R _in t ₍₁₀₎ = 4.83, p = 0.001, n = 11; paired t test) from the same cells pre and post stimulation. d An example (left) and summary data (right; t ₍₁₂₎ = 5.73, p < 0.0001, n = 13; paired t test) of the FM1-43 fluorescence spectral density signal pre and post stimulation. As expected, there was also a significant decrease in access resistance associated with these fluorescence spectral density changes pre and post micro-electrical stimulation (37.5 ± 5.3 vs. 21.6 ± 9.4 MΩ; t ₍₁₀₎ = 5.10; p = 0.0005). Note that the access resistance was on average around 10 % of the input resistance, and was even lower for the decoupled state. Scale bar 5 μm. ** p < 0.01