Single-channel properties of synaptically activated kainate receptors. A, Example of individual eEPSC_slow (top; evoked by minimal stimulation in the absence of an AMPA receptor-mediated component) superimposed on the peak scaled mean eEPSC_slow waveform for this cell (gray). Bottom traces are the difference currents for these traces. B, Binned squared difference current (variance) plotted versus current amplitude from the peak to the end of the EPSC obtained from a number of eEPSC_slow in this cell. The solid line is a parabolic fit to the data, with 95% confidence intervals indicated by dashed lines (r² = 0.99; single-channel current, -0.0878 ± 0.0139 pA for this fit). C, Summary data for γ for kainate receptors (n = 3) and AMPA receptors (n = 35) at thalamocortical synapses (AMPA receptor data plotted from the same data set as shown in Figs. 7, 8).