Figure 1

Ephrin-A2A5^−/− mice show smaller VEP peak amplitudes than wildtypes at pre-stimulation. (A) Schematic of experimental design. Mice were dark adapted for 10 minutes before recording pre-stimulation VEP responses to a flashed grating visual stimulus. Mice then received 10 minutes of 10 Hz LI-rTMS or sham (coil switched off control), either during exposure to a drifting grating visual stimulus (‘visual input’ condition) or in the dark. Mice then underwent a second 10 minute dark adaptation and post-stimulation VEP recording before being euthanised and processed for immunohistochemical staining for parvalbumin (PV). (B) Mean signal-averaged (32 flashes per trial, 4 trials) VEP traces for wildtype and ephrin-A2A5^−/− at pre-stimulation (delay groups only). Characteristic peaks are labelled, with demarcation for ‘early’ afferent VEP components (P1 and N1, ending at P2 onset) and ‘late’ (P2 onset to N3 onset) VEP response windows. The grey bar indicates the presentation of the visual stimulus. (C) Pre-stimulation mean (+SEM) peak amplitudes for early response peaks, P1 and N1. Asterisks indicate significance levels for Sidak corrected interaction analysis follow-up tests for simple effects of genotype at the pre-stimulation time point. Note reversed axis sign on N1 graph: up represents larger peak for both bar graphs. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.