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Synaptic inputs from identified bipolar and amacrine cells to a sparsely branched ganglion cell in rabbit retina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2019

Andrea S. Bordt ,
Diego Perez ,
Luke Tseng ,
Weiley Sunny Liu ,
Jay Neitz ,
Sara S. Patterson ,
Edward V. Famiglietti  and
David W. Marshak
Andrea S. Bordt
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
Diego Perez
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
Luke Tseng
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
Weiley Sunny Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
Jay Neitz
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA
Sara S. Patterson
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA
Edward V. Famiglietti
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology, Brown University, and Division of Ophthalmology, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
David W. Marshak*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
*
*Address correspondence to: David W. Marshak, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

There 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.

Keywords

Neural circuitsInterneuronProjection neuronSynapseElectron microscopy
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 36 , 2019 , E004
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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