Intracellular Recordings of Mechanosensory Neurons

The experimental rig consisted of two mechanical micromanipulators type MX-1 (TR 1, Narishige, Tokyo, Japan) and two amplifiers (SEC-05X, NPI Electronic, Tamm, Germany) (Kretzberg et al., 2016 (link)). Neuronal responses were recorded (sample rate 100 kHz) and analyzed using custom-written MATLAB software (MATLAB 9.1-9.5, MathWorks, Natick, MA, United States). We performed intracellular single and double recordings from mechanosensory touch cells, while injecting current into one T cell soma. For these current clamp recordings, the cell soma was impaled with borosilicate microelectrodes (TW100F-4, World Precision Instruments Inc., Sarasota, FL, United States) pulled with the micropipette puller P97 Flaming Brown (Sutter Instruments Company, Novato, CA, United States). The glass electrodes were filled with 3 M potassium acetate and had resistances of 15–30 MΩ. The neurons were identified by the size and the location of their cell bodies with a binocular microscope (Olympus szx7, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) as well as by their firing pattern (Nicholls and Baylor, 1968b (link)).