Fig. 4

Sex and subregional profiles of the Excitatory/Inhibitory (E/I) balance of the Insular Cortex. A, B Schematic illustration of synaptic charge transferred by each sEPSCs (A) and sIPSCs (B) calculated as the area inside each event as indicated by the arrows. C An analysis of the total charge of AMPA-sEPSCs measured over a 6-min period across sexes revealed similar total charges in both male and female in both the aIC and pIC. However, there was a higher total charge transfer observed in the aIC compared with pIC, but this was only observed in males. D Similarly, the total charge of GABA-sIPSCs, when measured over a 6-min period considering both area and sex, showed a comparable amount of charge transferred. This was analogous to the observations made in 'C' for AMPA-sEPSCs. E–H Cumulative frequency distribution of sEPSCs (excitation) and sIPSCs (inhibition) total charge transfer obtain from each Insular cortex within male and female animals. Insets: dot plots and pie graph showing the proportion of E versus I extrapolated at P = 0.5 from the corresponding cumulative frequency. C, D Data are presented as box-and-whisker plots (minimum, maximum, median) and analyzed via two-way ANOVA followed by Šídák's multiple comparison. P-values < 0.05 are depicted in the graphs. C The sample sizes for aIC male were 12/10 for pIC male 22/15, for aIC female 13/10 and for pIC female 12/10. D The sample sizes for aIC male were 19/11 for pIC male 13/9, for aIC female 13/10 and for pIC female 16/10