In contrast, diazepam had no significant effects

on the frequency of mIPSCs (Ctrl: 11.8 ± 1.99 Hz; DZ: 12.8 ± 2.4 Hz; DZ+Flu: 11.9 ± 2.1 Hz, n = 8; p = 0.139; one-way RM ANOVA) (Figures 5A and 5C). We then examined whether the impaired CF synapse elimination in GAD67+/GFP mice Selleck Y27632 is rescued by chronic application of diazepam. Elvax containing 0.5 mM diazepam or vehicle was implanted to the cerebellum of GAD67+/GFP mice at P10. Then, CF innervation was examined at P22–P31. In 49% of PCs (22/45) from vehicle-treated mice, CF-EPSCs with two or three discrete steps were elicited (Figure 5D) as in untreated GAD67+/GFP mice (Figure 2A). By marked contrast, large CF-EPSCs with single steps were elicited in 77% of PCs (50/65) in diazepam-treated GAD67+/GFP mice (Figure 5D).

Summary data show significant difference in the frequency distribution of PCs between the two groups (p = 0.011) (Figure 5D). Basic properties of CF-EPSCs were similar (Table S2), indicating that kinetics of CF-EPSCs was not altered by diazepam. GSK2118436 manufacturer When the diazepam application was started at P17, many PCs remained innervated by multiple CFs at P22–P31 (Figure 5E) with no significant difference between the diazepam- and vehicle-treated groups (p = 0.164). Taken together, these results strongly suggest that GABAergic inhibitory tone from P10 to P16 within the cerebellum is an important factor that regulates Mephenoxalone developmental CF synapse elimination. Next, we investigated which type of GABAergic synapses in the cerebellum is crucial for CF synapse elimination. We first evaluated GABAergic transmission onto GCs. Spontaneous IPSCs (sIPSCs)

were recorded in control and GAD67+/GFP GCs at P10–P13. Neither the amplitude (control: 50 ± 4.3 pA, n = 20; GAD67+/GFP: 40 ± 3.7 pA, n = 12; p = 0.138) nor the frequency (control: 2.2 ± 0.4 Hz, n = 20; GAD67+/GFP: 1.5 ± 0.2 Hz, n = 12; p = 0.179) of sIPSC was different between control and GAD67+/GFP GCs, indicating that GABAergic transmission onto GCs is not altered in GAD67+/GFP mice during the GAD67-sensitive period of CF synapse elimination. To narrow down the candidate GABAergic synapses responsible for CF synapse elimination, we generated conditional GAD67 knockout mice by intercrossing GAD67 floxed mice (Obata et al., 2008) with a D2CreN line (GluD2+/Cre) whose Cre gene was driven under the control of the GluD2 promotor (Hashimoto et al., 2011 and Yamasaki et al., 2011). Although GluD2 was previously thought to be a PC specific molecule, a recent study has demonstrated a low level of GluD2 expression in molecular layer interneurons (Yamasaki et al., 2011). Accordingly, in the D2CreN mice, Cre gene is expressed in not only PCs but also SCs and BCs, but is undetectable in other cell types (Yamasaki et al., 2011). Thus, in our conditional GAD67 KO mice, GAD67 was deleted from PCs, SCs and BCs (Figure S5), which we termed PC/SC/BC-GAD67 (−/−) mice.