Journal: iScience

Article Title: Learning-dependent 4 Hz synchronization in the posterior striatum, lateral geniculate nucleus, and visual cortex

doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113958

Figure Lengend Snippet: Entrainment of the pStr neuronal firing by 4 Hz oscillations (A) Phase modulation of the pStr neuron firing with respect to 4 Hz oscillations referenced to the pStr (top), dLGN (middle), and VC (bottom) during the early (left), middle (middle), and late (right) learning stages. Only significantly phase-modulated neurons are shown ( p < 0.05, Rayleigh test). The color scale represents the normalized firing rate of each neuron. The proportions of significantly phase-modulated neurons (early, middle, and late) were as follows: pStr-referenced, 22.9%, 18.9%, and 33.8%; dLGN-referenced, 22.9%, 22.3%, and 23.7%; and VC-referenced, 8.3%, 17.6%, and 20.2%. (B) Cumulative density function of phase modulation strength statistics log Z (Rayleigh Z statistic) for the pStr neurons. Green, blue, and purple lines represent the early, middle, and late stages, respectively. (C) Proportion of the pStr neurons phase-locked to 4 Hz oscillations referenced to the pStr (left), dLGN (middle), and VC (right) at each learning stage. Vertical bars represent the 95% confidence intervals (Clopper-Pearson method). (D) Histograms of preferred phase for the pStr neurons with respect to pStr (top), dLGN (middle), and VC (bottom) 4 Hz oscillations at the early (left), middle (middle), and late (right) learning stages. (E) Schematic of the hypothetical visual pathways conveying task-relevant information. After learning, the 4 Hz coherence between the pStr and visual areas increases, and a larger fraction of the pStr neurons is phase-modulated by visual-area 4 Hz oscillations. This strengthens functional connectivity between the pStr and visual areas, enabling rapid information transfer to downstream targets and improving task efficiency.

Article Snippet: The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to compare cumulative distributions (‘kstest.m’ function in MATLAB Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox).

Techniques: Functional Assay

Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Membrane cholesterol mediates the cellular effects of monolayer graphene substrates

doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03185-0

Figure Lengend Snippet: Graphene induces presynaptic potentiation. a Sample images of FM1-43 labeling. Scale bar, 30 μm. b Cumulative distributions of FM1-43 intensities at synaptic boutons (black, glass; red, graphene, same color coding hereafter). n glass = 207 ROIs, n graphene = 139 ROIs, N = 3; p < 0.05, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test). Inset. Average FM1-43 fluorescence. ** p < 0.01, two-tailed t- test. c Sample images of FM1-43 labeling after destaining. Scale bar, 30 μm. d FM1-43 fluorescence during destaining. Inset is average fluorescence from 170 to 180 s ( n glass = 207 ROIs, n graphene = 139 ROIs, N = 3; *** p < 0.001, two-tailed t -test). e Sample images of single Qdot loading. Scale bar, 30 μm. f Cumulative distributions of Qdot intensity after background subtraction in ROIs defined by retrospective FM4-64 labeling (single Qdot loading, dotted line; total recycling pool loading, solid lines). The average single Qdot intensity after background subtraction is 378 ± 41 a.u. The average total Qdot intensities after background subtraction are 8787 ± 156 a.u. for glass and 11,050 ± 224 a.u. for graphene ( n glass = 187 ROIs, n graphene = 211 ROIs, N = 4; p < 0.001, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test). The estimated average numbers of total recycling vesicles are 23.2 for glass and 29.2 for graphene. g Sample images of single Qdot labeling after stimulation. Scale bar, 30 μm. h Fast-and-reversible fusion (FRF) ratio (out of all fusion events) during 1-min 10-Hz field stimulation ( n glass = 174 ROIs, n graphene = 181 ROIs, N = 3; *** p < 0.001, two-tailed t -test on the average FRF values from a five-frame window at the end of each time course). Error bars are S.E.M.

Article Snippet: Cumulative distribution functions (FM dye and Qdot imaging) or histograms (GP imaging) were used for two-group comparison of pooled values.

Techniques: Labeling, Fluorescence, Two Tailed Test