Sex-specificity of associative learning-induced changes in GABAergic tonic inhibition in layer 4 neurons of mouse barrel cortex

Abstract

We show that in naïve mice, tonic currents mediated by δ subunit-containing GABA A receptors in fast spiking interneurons are larger in females than in males while in regular spiking neurons such a difference was not observed. Moreover, in fast spiking interneurons, associative learning induced a larger reduction of these currents in females than in males. In contrast, in regular spiking neurons, learning similarly enhanced tonic currents in both sexes.