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Fig. 4. | BMC Biology

Fig. 4.

From: Flexible and stretchable polymer optical fibers for chronic brain and vagus nerve optogenetic stimulations in free-behaving animals

Fig. 4.

Optogenetic modulation of the vagus nerve in vivo. A A schematic illustrating the implantation of a polymer optical fiber (POF) for vagus nerve optogenetic stimulation (VNOS). B A representative image of the ganglion of the left vagus nerve is shown: blue, DAPI; green, VGAT; red, ChAT. C, D Representative raster plots of spike timestamps (top) and histogram plots of the firing rate (bottom) before, during, and after VNOS are shown (C, putative GABAergic interneurons: spike duration < 1 ms; D, putative cholinergic neurons: spike duration > 6 ms). E–H Representative examples (E, G) and quantitative analyses (F, H) of the heart rate variability in anesthetized (E, F; n = 5 in F, mean ± standard deviation) and freely behaving (G, H; n = 8 in H, mean ± standard deviation) mice (***p < 0.005, paired t test). The shaded area indicates the VNOS period

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