An Alternative Pathway for Signal Flow from Rod Photoreceptors to Ganglion Cells in Mammalian Retina

Rod signals in the mammalian retina are thought to reach ganglion cells over the circuit rod → rod depolarizing bipolar cell → AII amacrine cell → cone bipolar cells → ganglion cells. A possible alternative pathway involves gap junctions linking the rods and cones, the circuit being rod → cone → con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1995-11, Vol.92 (23), p.10658-10662
Main Authors: DeVries, Steven H., Baylor, Denis A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amacrine cells
Aminobutyrates - pharmacology
Animals
Bipolar disorder
Cell Communication
Checkerboards
Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
Electrical polarity
Electrophysiology
Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists - pharmacology
Eyes & eyesight
Ganglia
In Vitro Techniques
Light
Models, Biological
Neurology
Neurons
Phosphors
Photoreceptors
Rabbits
Retina
Retinal Ganglion Cells - physiology
Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells - drug effects
Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells - physiology
Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells - radiation effects
Signals
Vision, Ocular - physiology
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Summary:Rod signals in the mammalian retina are thought to reach ganglion cells over the circuit rod → rod depolarizing bipolar cell → AII amacrine cell → cone bipolar cells → ganglion cells. A possible alternative pathway involves gap junctions linking the rods and cones, the circuit being rod → cone → cone bipolar cells → ganglion cells. It is not clear whether this second pathway indeed relays rod signals to ganglion cells. We studied signal flow in the isolated rabbit retina with a multielectrode array, which allows the activity of many identified ganglion cells to be observed simultaneously while the preparation is stimulated with light and/or exposed to drugs. When transmission between rods and rod depolarizing bipolar cells was blocked by the glutamate agonist 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB), rod input to all On-center and briskly responding Off-center ganglion cells was dramatically reduced as expected. Off responses persisted, however, in Off-center sluggish and On-Off directionselective ganglion cells. Presumably these responses were generated by the alternative pathway involving rod-cone junctions. This APB-resistant pathway may carry the major rod input to Off-center sluggish and On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.92.23.10658