Properties of stimulus-dependent synchrony in retinal ganglion cells

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 827-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSMITA CHATTERJEE ◽  
DAVID K. MERWINE ◽  
FRANKLIN R. AMTHOR ◽  
NORBERTO M. GRZYWACZ

Neighboring retinal ganglion cells often spike synchronously, but the possible function and mechanism of this synchrony is unclear. Recently, the strength of the fast correlation between ON-OFF directionally selective cells of the rabbit retina was shown to be stimulus dependent. Here, we extend that study, investigating stimulus-dependent correlation among multiple ganglion-cell classes, using multi-electrode recordings. Our results generalized those for directionally selective cells. All cell pairs exhibiting significant spike synchrony did it for an extended edge but rarely for full-field stimuli. The strength of this synchrony did not depend on the amplitude of the response and correlations could be present even when the cells' receptive fields did not overlap. In addition, correlations tended to be orientation selective in a manner predictable by the relative positions of the receptive fields. Finally, extended edges and full-field stimuli produced significantly greater and smaller correlations than predicted by chance respectively. We propose an amacrine-network model for the enhancement and depression of correlation. Such an apparently purposeful control of correlation adds evidence for retinal synchrony playing a functional role in vision.

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. GRANDA ◽  
J.R. DEARWORTH ◽  
B. SUBRAMANIAM

Receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells in turtle have excitatory and inhibitory components that are balanced along the dimensions of wavelength, functional ON and OFF responses, and spatial assignments of center and surround. These components were analyzed by spectral light adaptations and by the glutamate agonist, 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB). Extracellular recordings to stationary and moving spots of light were used to map changes in receptive fields. ON spike counts minus OFF spike counts, derived from flashed stationary light spots, quantified functional shifts by calculating normalized mean response modulations. The data show that receptive fields are not static, but rather are dynamic arrangements which depend on linked, antagonistic balances among the three dimensions of wavelength, ON and OFF response functions, and center/surround areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea S. Bordt ◽  
Diego Perez ◽  
Luke Tseng ◽  
Weiley Sunny Liu ◽  
Jay Neitz ◽  
...  

AbstractThere are more than 30 distinct types of mammalian retinal ganglion cells, each sensitive to different features of the visual environment. In rabbit retina, they can be grouped into four classes according to their morphology and stratification of their dendrites in the inner plexiform layer (IPL). The goal of this study was to describe the synaptic inputs to one type of Class IV ganglion cell, the third member of the sparsely branched Class IV cells (SB3). One cell of this type was partially reconstructed in a retinal connectome developed using automated transmission electron microscopy (ATEM). It had slender, relatively straight dendrites that ramify in the sublamina a of the IPL. The dendrites of the SB3 cell were always postsynaptic in the IPL, supporting its identity as a ganglion cell. It received 29% of its input from bipolar cells, a value in the middle of the range for rabbit retinal ganglion cells studied previously. The SB3 cell typically received only one synapse per bipolar cell from multiple types of presumed OFF bipolar cells; reciprocal synapses from amacrine cells at the dyad synapses were infrequent. In a few instances, the bipolar cells presynaptic to the SB3 ganglion cell also provided input to an amacrine cell presynaptic to the ganglion cell. There was apparently no crossover inhibition from narrow-field ON amacrine cells. Most of the amacrine cell inputs were from axons and dendrites of GABAergic amacrine cells, likely providing inhibitory input from outside the classical receptive field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Yuhong Fu ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Xinyuan Gao ◽  
Huiyao Li ◽  
Yue Yuan

Background. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a severe complication of diabetes mellitus. DR is considered as a neurovascular disease. Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss plays an important role in the vision function disorder of diabetic patients. Histone deacetylase3 (HDAC3) is closely related to injury repair and nerve regeneration. The correlation between HDAC3 and retinal ganglion cells in diabetic retinopathy is still unclear yet. Methods. To investigate the chronological sequence of the abnormalities of retinal ganglion cells in diabetic retinopathy, we choose 15 male db/db mice (aged 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 18 weeks, and 25 weeks; each group had 3 mice) as diabetic groups and 3 male db/m mice (aged 8 weeks) as the control group. In this study, we examined the morphological and immunohistochemical changes of HDAC3, Caspase3, and LC3B in a sequential manner by characterizing the process of retinal ganglion cell variation. Results. Blood glucose levels and body weights of db/db mice were significantly higher than that of the control group, P<0.01. Compared with the control group, the number of retinal ganglion cells decreased with the duration of disease increasing. HDAC3 expression gradually increased in RGCs of db/db mice. Caspase3 expression gradually accelerated in RGCs of db/db mice. LC3B expression dynamically changed in RGCs of db/db mice. HDAC3 was positively correlated with Caspase3 expression (r=0.7424), P<0.01. HDAC3 was positively correlated with LC3B expression (r=0.7336), P<0.01. Discussion. We clarified the dynamic expression changes of HDAC3, Caspase3, and LC3B in retinal ganglion cells of db/db mice. Our results suggest the HDAC3 expression has a positive correlation with apoptosis and autophagy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
WALTER F. HEINE ◽  
CHRISTOPHER L. PASSAGLIA

AbstractThe rat is a popular animal model for vision research, yet there is little quantitative information about the physiological properties of the cells that provide its brain with visual input, the retinal ganglion cells. It is not clear whether rats even possess the full complement of ganglion cell types found in other mammals. Since such information is important for evaluating rodent models of visual disease and elucidating the function of homologous and heterologous cells in different animals, we recorded from rat ganglion cells in vivo and systematically measured their spatial receptive field (RF) properties using spot, annulus, and grating patterns. Most of the recorded cells bore likeness to cat X and Y cells, exhibiting brisk responses, center-surround RFs, and linear or nonlinear spatial summation. The others resembled various types of mammalian W cell, including local-edge-detector cells, suppressed-by-contrast cells, and an unusual type with an ON–OFF surround. They generally exhibited sluggish responses, larger RFs, and lower responsiveness. The peak responsivity of brisk-nonlinear (Y-type) cells was around twice that of brisk-linear (X-type) cells and several fold that of sluggish cells. The RF size of brisk-linear and brisk-nonlinear cells was indistinguishable, with average center and surround diameters of 5.6 ± 1.3 and 26.4 ± 11.3 deg, respectively. In contrast, the center diameter of recorded sluggish cells averaged 12.8 ± 7.9 deg. The homogeneous RF size of rat brisk cells is unlike that of cat X and Y cells, and its implication regarding the putative roles of these two ganglion cell types in visual signaling is discussed.


1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 987-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
J B Troy ◽  
C Enroth-Cugell

We examined the dependence of the center radius of X cells on temporal frequency and found that at temporal frequencies above 40 Hz the radius increases in a monotonic fashion, reaching a size approximately 30% larger at 70 Hz. This kind of spatial expansion has been predicted with cable models of receptive fields where inductive elements are included in modeling the neuronal membranes. Hence, the expansion of the center radius is clearly important for modeling X cell receptive fields. On the other hand, we feel that it might be of only minor functional significance, since the responsivity of X cells is attenuated at these high temporal frequencies and the signal-to-noise ratio is considerably worse than at low and midrange temporal frequencies.


Development ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
S. C. Sharma ◽  
J. G. Hollyfield

The specification of central connexions of retinal ganglion cells was studied in Xenopus laevis. In one series of experiments, the right eye primordium was rotated 180° at embryonic stages 24–32. In the other series, the left eye was transplanted into the right orbit, and vice versa, with either 0° or 180° rotation. After metamorphosis the visual projections from the operated eye to the contralateral optic tectum were mapped electrophysiologically and compared with the normal retinotectal map. In all cases the visual projection map was rotated through the same angle as was indicated by the position of the choroidal fissure. The left eye exchanged into the right orbit retained its original axes and projected to the contralateral tectum. These results suggest that retinal ganglion cell connexions are specified before stage 24.


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL W. LEVINE

The isolated retina of the goldfish has proven a valuable resource for studying the variability of firing of retinal ganglion cells. Three major areas of study are considered here: the variability of maintained discharges, the correlated firing of neighboring ganglion cells, and the variability of responses to light. The sources of variability, its relationship to retinal processing, and its possible functional role in perception are examined through these three aspects of variability. The results are related to similar studies in mammals (mainly cats). This retrospective is biased toward my studies over 30 years.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Geva ◽  
Noga Gershoni-Emek ◽  
Luana Naia ◽  
Philip Ly ◽  
Sandra Mota ◽  
...  

AbstractOptic neuropathies such as glaucoma are characterized by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration and death. The sigma-1 receptor (S1R) is an attractive target for treating optic neuropathies as it is highly expressed in RGCs, and its absence causes retinal degeneration. Activation of the S1R exerts neuroprotective effects in models of retinal degeneration. Pridopidine is a highly selective and potent S1R agonist in clinical development. We show that pridopidine exerts neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells in two different rat models of glaucoma. Pridopidine strongly binds melanin, which is highly expressed in the retina. This feature of pridopidine has implications to its ocular distribution, bioavailability, and effective dose. Mitochondria dysfunction is a key contributor to retinal ganglion cell degeneration. Pridopidine rescues mitochondrial function via activation of the S1R, providing support for the potential mechanism driving its neuroprotective effect in retinal ganglion cells.


1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph J. Jensen

AbstractPrevious studies have reported that the surround responses of retinal ganglion cells weaken or disappear upon dark adaptation. The mechanism(s) by which this occurs is largely unknown, although changes in activity of retinal dopaminergic neurons have been implicated. In the light-adapted rabbit retina, the surround ON responses of OFF-center ganglion cells have been shown to be markedly reduced or abolished by a dopamine antagonist. This effect of a dopamine antagonist was recently shown to be reversed by the glycine antagonist strychnine and by compounds that elevate intracellular cAMP levels. The present study was conducted to determine whether strychnine and cAMP-elevating compounds could bring out the surround ON responses in OFF-center ganglion cells that are diminished upon dark adaptation. Extracellular recordings of OFF-center brisk ganglion cells were made from isolated, superfused retinal preparations. During the course of dark adaptation, the surround On responses of many cells decreased markedly.Application in both brisk-transient and brisk-sustained OFF-center ganglion cells. The center OFF responses of these cells, on the other hand, were not enhanced by strychnine. Of the cAMP-elevating compounds tested, 8-(4-chlorophenylthio) cyclic AMP was the most effective in bringing out the surround ON responses in dark-adapted OFF-center ganglion cells. The findings from this study suggest that under dark-adapted conditions glycinergic neurons inhibit the surround component of OFF-center ganglion cells. The release of glycine from these neurons is suggested to be regulated by a cAMP-dependent mechanism.


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