Fig. 5

Characterization of basal synaptic transmission, paired-pulse responses, and long-term potentiation in the hippocampal CA1-region of about 8-month-old 5xFAD, htau-KI, and 5xFADxhtau-KI mice compared to WT animals. a Basal synaptic transmission was similar across all genotypes. b Paired-pulse stimulation led to lower ratios in htau-KI and 5xFADxhtau-KI mice, but only at the shortest interpulse intervals (10–20ms). c LTP induced by 3× theta-burst stimulation (TBS) was impaired in htau-KI and 5xFAD mice compared to WT controls (RM-ANOVA + Dunnett’s multiple comparison tests). The asterisks above the line on top of the LTP time series indicate the significant main effect of genotype. Insets show representative signal traces for every genotype during baseline (solid line) and at 180 min (dotted line). d Bar graphs exemplify the magnitudes of potentiation for each genotype for LTP induction (at 30 min post-TBS) and maintenance (at 180 min). Tukey’s multiple comparisons tests confirmed significant differences for htau-KI and 5xFAD. The combined 5xFADxhtau-KI model expresses an LTP of an intermediate magnitude that is not significantly different from WT mice. Numbers between brackets indicate sample sizes (animals). Mean ± SEM is given, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. For all: WT (n=13), 5xFAD (n=11), htau-KI (n=9), 5xFADxhtau-KI (n=10)