Electrical synapses convey orientation selectivity in the mouse retina

Sensory neurons downstream of primary receptors are selective for specific stimulus features, and they derive their selectivity both from excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs from other neurons and from their own intrinsic properties. Electrical synapses, formed by gap junctions, modulate senso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2017-12, Vol.8 (1), p.2025-15, Article 2025
Main Authors: Nath, Amurta, Schwartz, Gregory W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/2613/1786
631/378/3917
631/378/3920
631/378/548/1954
Amacrine cells
Bipolar cells
Brain
Electrical junctions
Gap junctions
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Neurons
Orientation
Orientation behavior
Receptors
Retina
Retinal ganglion cells
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Selectivity
Sensory neurons
Synapses
Visual pathways
Visual stimuli
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Summary:Sensory neurons downstream of primary receptors are selective for specific stimulus features, and they derive their selectivity both from excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs from other neurons and from their own intrinsic properties. Electrical synapses, formed by gap junctions, modulate sensory circuits. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are diverse feature detectors carrying visual information to the brain, and receive excitatory input from bipolar cells and inhibitory input from amacrine cells (ACs). Here we describe a RGC that relies on gap junctions, rather than chemical synapses, to convey its selectivity for the orientation of a visual stimulus. This represents both a new functional role of electrical synapses as the primary drivers of feature selectivity and a new circuit mechanism for orientation selectivity in the retina. Visual input received by photoreceptors is relayed to retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which have selectivity for inputs of certain orientations. Here, the authors show that gap junction-mediated input onto one type of RGC contributes to its orientation selectivity.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-017-01980-9