Journal: Nature Communications
Article Title: Motor learning and dopamine-dependent striatal synaptic plasticity are controlled by astrocytic MEGF10
doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-69129-1
Figure Lengend Snippet: a An experimental scheme. b Latency to fall during rotarod training of control and Megf10 cKO (black: Megf10 fl/fl , n = 9 mice, red: Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl , n = 13 mice; two-way ANOVA). c Representative confocal z-stack images showing astrocytic phagocytosis of corticostriatal presynapses in the DLS from control ( Megf10 fl/fl) and Megf10 cKO ( Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ) mice during rotarod training (top: mCherry (red), eGFP (cyan), and S100B (blue); bottom: mCherry-only (magenta), S100B (cyan)). Scale bar, 10 μm. d Quantification of corticostriatal presynapses by astrocytes in the DLS from control ( Megf10 fl/fl ) and Megf10 cKO ( Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ) mice during rotarod training ( Megf10 fl/fl ; 0 days: n = 6 mice, 5 days: n = 9 mice; Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ; 0 days: n = 6 mice, 5 days: n = 7 mice; one-way ANOVA). e Representative confocal z-stack images showing astrocytic phagocytosis of striatal postynapses in the DLS from control ( Megf10 fl/fl ) and Megf10 cKO ( Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ) mice during rotarod training (top: mCherry (red), eGFP (cyan), and S100B (blue); bottom: mCherry-only (magenta), S100B (cyan)). Scale bar, 10 μm. f Quantification of striatal postsynaptic phagocytosis by astrocytes in the DLS from control ( Megf10 fl/fl ) and Megf10 cKO ( Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ) mice during rotarod training ( Megf10 fl/fl ; 0 days: n = 5 mice, 5 days: n = 4 mice; Aldh1l1-CreERT2; Megf10 fl/fl ; 0 days: n = 8 mice, 5 days: n = 6 mice; one-way ANOVA). g Schematic illustration of the experiment to knock out Megf10 astrocytes conditionally in the striatum. h Latency to fall during the accelerating rotarod task of the control group ( GfaABC1D-Gfp , green) and the Megf10 cKO group ( GfaABC1D-Cre , yellow) ( GfaABC1D-Gfp : n = 9 mice, GfaABC1D-Cre : n = 10 mice; two-way ANOVA). i A schematic illustration of the stimulation site in the corticostriatal pathway and the whole-cell patch-clamp recording in the DLS of a horizontal brain slice. Created in BioRender. Chung, W. (2026) https://BioRender.com/spxps4n . j Representative recording traces (left) and summary statistics (right) depicting the I/O relationships at corticostriatal excitatory synapses (Control, n = 19 cells from 5 mice; Megf10 cKO, n = 21 cells from 5 mice; RM two-way ANOVA). k Representative recording traces (left) and summary statistics (right) illustrating the AMPA/NMDA ratio at corticostriatal synapses (Control, n = 11 cells from 3 mice; Megf10 cKO, n = 11 cells from 4 mice; unpaired two-sided t -test). Data were presented as mean values ± SEM. AU arbitrary units.
Article Snippet: To generate the pAAV- GfaABC1D-GFP construct, the eGFP construct from pAAV- CAG-GFP (Addgene #28014) were amplified by PCR and subcloned into pAAV- GfaABC1D-Cre (Addgene #1056063).
Techniques: Control, Knock-Out, Patch Clamp, Slice Preparation