|
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAPID REPORT |
Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-yang Road, Shanghai 200031, PR China
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
(Received 6 January 2004;
accepted after revision 16 February 2004;
first published online 20 February 2004)
Corresponding author S. He: Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-yang Road, Shanghai 200031, PR China. Email: s.he{at}ion.ac.cn
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
On the other hand, there is conflicting evidence in the literature. Dendrites of overlapping SAs and DSGCs have been shown to cofasciculate extensively with one another, and physiological recordings have shown that the cofasciculating DSGCs have different preferred directions (Tauchi & Masland, 1985; Vaney, 1994; Amthor & Oyster, 1995; He & Masland, 1998; Vaney & Pow, 2000). When dendrites of DSGCs with different preferred directions cofasciculate, and one of them in turn cofasciculates with an SA process, how can the dendrites of other DSGCs avoid cofasciculating with the same SA process? A recent report showed that boutons of a single SA contacted three adjacent ON-OFF DSGCs (Famiglietti, 2002), challenging simple DS models of spatially asymmetrical connections.
In this study, we investigated the relationship between the cholinergic plexus and morphologically and physiologically characterized ON and ON-OFF DSGCs. We show that there is no discernable anatomical asymmetry at the light microscopic level between the cholinergic plexus and dendrites of both types of DSGCs. Examination of individual SAs on the preferred or null side of the DSGCs reveals no difference in cofasciculation. We conclude that the computation of motion direction in the retina does not result from geometrically asymmetrical contacts between processes of DSGCs and SAs. For SAs to induce DS, they have to synapse selectively to an appropriate partner within the fascicule of DSGC processes.
| Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Identification of DSGCs
ON and ON-OFF DSGCs were identified by either morphological characteristics or electrophysiological responses. Both ON and ON-OFF DSGCs can be visually selected in the DAPI-labelled retina after some practice. A micropipette (impedance
150 M
) containing 1% Lucifer Yellow (Sigma) and 4% Neurobiotin (Vector Laboratory) was used to impale the selected cells and fill the cells with tracers (1nA, 13min). The identity of injected cells was readily revealed by their unique dendritic morphology. For physiological identification, light responses to a bar (100x500µm) drifting in 12 directions were recorded in whole-cell current clamp mode, using a standard Axopatch 200B amplifier and Clampex 8.1 (Axon Instruments). The patch pipette contained 0.4% Neurobiotin. SAs on either the preferred side or the null side were injected using a sharp micropipette containing 4% Lucifer Yellow after the recorded DSGCs had been characterized.
Immunohistochemical staining
For cryosections. Retinas were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for 10min, and balanced in a 10% sucrose solution followed by a 20% sucrose solution. Vertical cryosections of 16µm were cut using a Leica CM1900 cryostat. Sections were incubated overnight at 4°C with goat anti-choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) antibodies (1 : 1000, Chemicon) and rabbit anti-VAChT antibodies (1 : 4000, Sigma) diluted in PBS (pH 7.4) solution containing 0.3% Triton X-100 and 1% bovine serum albumin (Sigma). After washing 3 times with PBS, sections were incubated for 2h in antigoat-TRITC (tetramethyl rhodamine) and antirabbit-FITC (fluorescein) (1 : 100, Jackson Laboratory), coverslipped with Vectorshield (Vector lab), and sealed with nail polish.
For whole-mount preparations. Retinas were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for 1 h, washed 3 times and incubated with rabbit anti-VAChT antibodies (1 : 100, Sigma) for 7 days at room temperature. The preparation was then incubated in antirabbit-TRITC (1 : 100, Jackson Laboratory) for 1 day to label VAChT. Neurobiotin injected into the DS cells or SAs was visualized with streptavidin-FITC or streptavidin-Texas Red (Vector lab). Single SAs on the preferred or null side were injected with 4% Lucifer Yellow, incubated with rabbit anti-Lucifer Yellow antibodies (1 : 100, Molecular Probes, 2 days of incubation), visualized with antirabbit-FITC antibodies (1 : 100, Jackson Laboratory, 1 day of incubation). Negative controls were carried out by omitting the primary antibodies.
Quantitative analysis
Images were collected using a Zeiss LSM510 confocal microscope with a x 40 Plan Fluor (NA 1.3), a x 60 Plan Apo (NA 1.4), or a x 100 Plan Fluor (NA 1.45) for high power images. Intensity and contrast were adjusted with Photoshop 6.0 (Adobe). The labelled SA processes (either single cell injection or population staining by VAChT) is shown in one colour channel (red) and the DS dendrites in another (green). To quantify the degree of cofasciculation, the most stringent case was considered. A threshold was applied to each channel using MetaMorph 5.0 (Universal Imaging), and pixels in two channels had to overlap or touch in order to be considered as cofasciculated. In our case, the pixel size was 0.20.3µm and the estimated voxel height was 0.5µm. Pixels separated by more than 0.2µm could still be cofasciculated according to the definitions used in many studies, but the possibility of synaptic contacts between these pixels is quite unlikely, therefore were excluded in our analysis. A cofasiculation index (CI) was defined as follows:
|
| (1) |
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
VAChT signal almost completely colocalized in the processes positive for ChAT. Confocal images of VAChT-positive processes in sublamina a and b can be seen in Fig. 1A, showing extensive double labelling with ChAT on cross-sections. On the other hand, ChAT-positive somas and proximal processes did not show any VAChT staining (Fig. 1A). This observation was further substantiated by quantitative analysis in the whole-mount retinas. An individual SA injected with Neurobiotin is shown in Fig. 1B against a background of VAChT staining. Overall, the SA processes showed cofasciculation with the VAChT-positive plexus with a CI of 1.7. Furthermore, when SA processes were divided and separately analysed at proximal, intermediate and distal regions, the degree of cofasciculation was found to increase from proximal (CI 1.3) to distal (CI 1.9) (Fig. 1B and Table 1). When the SAs were rotated by 180 deg, the CIs dropped to 1 (see Fig. S1 in Supplementary material, available online only). Even the smallest CI for the proximal region showed a statistically significant difference from the CIs of rotated SAs (P < 0.01). These results demonstrated that the VAChT-positive plexus is largely made of distal processes of SAs.
|
|
Tight cofasciculation was obvious when quantitatively analysing processes of SAs and dendrites of morphologically or physiologically identified ON and ON-OFF DSGCs. Panels C, D and E of Fig. 1 show the cofasciculation of, respectively, an ON DSGC, and the ON and OFF arbor of an ON-OFF DSGC. Tight cofasciculation with the VAChT-labelled plexus was not ubiquitous: dendrites of several types of non-DSGCs showed close to chance distribution with the overlapping VAChT-labelled plexus (Table 1) (Fig. S2, Supplementary material). Furthermore, when the DS cell arbors were rotated by 180 degrees, the CI declined to 1 (Fig. S3, Supplementary material). Quantitative data were summarized in Table 1.
Different regions of DSGC dendritic field show same degree of cofasciculation
If one hypothesizes that the geometrically asymmetrical relationship between SAs and DSGCs is the sole cause of DS, one would expect less tight cofasciculation on the preferred side of the dendritic field because this region has been shown to be less directional (Barlow & Levick, 1965; He et al. 1999). The dendritic fields of DSGCs were divided into two halves perpendicular to the preferrednull axis, with each field containing an equal length of dendrites. An analysis of the extent of dendritic cofasciculation with the VAChT-positive plexus was carried out for each individual half-field. High power confocal micrographs of the DSGC dendrites on the preferred and null side are shown in Fig. 2A and B, respectively. A histogram of the CIs of eight DSGCs (13 ON DS, 48 ON layer of ON-OFF DS and 913 OFF layer of ON-OFF DS) is shown in Fig. 2C. A paired t test showed no statistically significant difference in cofasciculation between the preferred and null sides of the DS dendritic field (P= 0.23). Similar analyses were carried out along the preferrednull axis, with dendritic fields again divided into two halves. No significant difference in the degree of cofasciculation was found (P= 0.27).
|
Examining the relationship between the dendrites of DSGCs and all SA processes did not permit the identification of any potential asymmetric connection between a DSGC and SAs on different sides. Therefore, it was necessary to investigate the relationship between individual SAs and DSGCs with overlapping dendritic fields. SAs injected on the preferred and null sides of physiologically characterized DSGCs (Fig. S4, Supplementary material) are shown in Fig. 2D and E, respectively. Quantitative analyses revealed no discernable differences in the degree of cofasciculation between dendrites of the DS cells and the distal processes of SAs on the preferred side or on the null side (Fig. 2F). The CI was 1.6 ± 0.2 for SAs on the preferred side and 1.5 ± 0.3 for those on the null side.
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
SAs control both types of DS cells?
Although both ON and ON-OFF DSGCs code motion direction, they have very different response characteristics. The distribution of the preferred direction is different. ON DSGCs have three subtypes, with the preferred directions being anterior, superior (slightly towards posterior), and inferior (slightly towards posterior too). There are four subtypes of ON-OFF DSGCs, with the preferred directions being anterior, posterior, superior and inferior (Oyster, 1968). ON DSGCs respond optimally to slowly moving stimuli whereas ON-OFF DSGCs prefer medium-to-fast velocity stimuli (Oyster, 1968; Wyatt & Daw, 1975; He & Masland, 1998). When stimulated with a flashing spot, ON-OFF DSGCs respond transiently to both the onset and offset of the stimulus, whereas ON DSGCs exhibit a sustained response lasting as long as the receptive field is lit (He & Masland, 1998).
In the sublamina b, dendrites of ON DSGCs have been shown to exhibit a similar, if not a higher, degree of cofasciculation with the cholinergic plexus to those of the ON-OFF DSGCs. The observation of tight cofasciculation suggests that SAs play an important role in generating the direction selectivity of ON DSGCs. To control the slower response dynamics, the inhibition must be sustained. A sustained inhibitory current has been observed in DSGCs when currents were injected into SAs on the null side in a dual patch experiment (Fried et al. 2002), supporting the idea of sustained inhibition. Therefore, SAs could potentially control both the fast mechanism of ON-OFF DSGCs and the slow mechanism of ON DSGCs. Golgi-stained SAs have been observed to contact both ON and ON-OFF DSGCs in the rabbit retina (Famiglietti, 2002), although it is not clear if synapses exist within contacts.
Effective coverage factor and selective connection
This study has shown that the cofasciculated cholinergic plexus is predominantly made of distal processes of SAs. This finding reduces the effective coverage factor of SAs by 44.4%, from 3070 to 1739. Supposing that ON and ON-OFF DSGCs are controlled by different SAs in sublamina b, there are still sufficient SAs (26) to cover each of the three ON and four ON-OFF DS subtypes. In the sublamina a, there are only four subtypes of ON-OFF DSGCs, which would leave 410 SAs controlling each DSGC.
A sufficiently large coverage factor does not necessarily rule out the possibility that a single SA provides input to both ON and ON-OFF DS cells. The extraordinarily symmetrical morphology of SAs provides a convenient way to innervate DSGCs with different preferred directions, and as long as a DSGC selectively connects to a certain section of the SA processes, it could achieve the appropriate preferred direction.
| Supplementary material |
|---|
|
|
|---|
DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2004.060715
and contains five supplementary figures: Figs S1S5.
This material can also be found at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/products/journals/suppmat/tjp/tjp210/tjp210sm.htm
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Amthor FR, Keyser KT & Dmitrieva NA (2002). Effects of the destruction of starburst-cholinergic amacrine cells by the toxin AF64A on rabbit retinal directional selectivity. Vis Neurosci 19, 495509.[CrossRef][Medline]
Amthor FR & Oyster CW (1995). Spatial organization of retinal information about the direction of image motion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92, 40024005.
Barlow HB & Levick WR (1965). The mechanism of directionally selective units in rabbit's retina. J Physiol 178, 477504.
Euler T, Detwiler PB & Denk W (2002). Directionally selective calcium signals in dendrites of starburst amacrine cells. Nature 418, 845852.[CrossRef][Medline]
Famiglietti EV (1991). Synaptic organization of starburst amacrine cells in rabbit retina: analysis of serial thin sections by electron microscopy and graphic reconstruction. J Comp Neurol 309, 4070.[CrossRef][Medline]
Famiglietti EV (1992). Dendritic co-stratification of ON and ON-OFF directionally selective ganglion cells with starburst amacrine cells in rabbit retina. J Comp Neurol 324, 322335.[CrossRef][Medline]
Famiglietti EV (2002). A structural basis for omnidirectional connections between starburst amacrine cells and directionally selective ganglion cells in rabbit retina, with associated bipolar cells. Vis Neurosci 19, 145162.[CrossRef][Medline]
Fried SI, Munch TA & Werblin FS (2002). Mechanisms and circuitry underlying directional selectivity in the retina. Nature 420, 411414.[CrossRef][Medline]
He S, Dong W, Deng Q, Weng S & Sun W (2003). Seeing more clearly: recent advances in understanding retinal circuitry. Science 302, 408411.
He S, Jin ZF & Masland RH (1999). The nondiscriminating zone of directionally selective retinal ganglion cells: comparison with dendritic structure and implications for mechanism. J Neurosci 19, 80498056.
He S & Masland RH (1998). ON direction-selective ganglion cells in the rabbit retina: dendritic morphology and pattern of fasciculation. Vis Neurosci 15, 369375.[CrossRef][Medline]
Oyster CW (1968). The analysis of image motion by the rabbit retina. J Physiol 199, 613635.
Tauchi M & Masland RH (1985). Local order among the dendrites of an amacrine cell population. J Neurosci 5, 24942501.[Abstract]
Taylor WR & Vaney DI (2003). New directions in retinal research. Trends Neurosci 26, 379385.[CrossRef][Medline]
Vaney DI (1990). The mosaic of amacrine cells in the mammalian retina. Prog Retinal Res 9, 49100.[CrossRef]
Vaney DI (1994). Territorial organization of direction-selective ganglion cells in rabbit retina. J Neurosci 14, 63016316.[Abstract]
Vaney DI, He S, Taylor WR & Levick WR (2001). Direction-selective ganglion cells in the retina. In Motion Vision, ed. Zanker JM & Zeil J, pp. 1356. Springer, Berlin.
Vaney DI & Pow DV (2000). The dendritic architecture of the cholinergic plexus in the rabbit retina: selective labeling by glycine accumulation in the presence of sarcosine. J Comp Neurol 421, 113.[CrossRef][Medline]
Vaney DI & Taylor WR (2002). Direction selectivity in the retina. Curr Opin Neurobiol 12, 405410.[CrossRef][Medline]
Wyatt HJ & Daw NW (1975). Directionally sensitive ganglion cells in the rabbit retina: specificity for stimulus direction, size, and speed. J Neurophysiol 38, 613626.
Yang G & Masland RH (1994). Receptive fields and dendritic structure of directionally selective retinal ganglion cells. J Neurosci 14, 52675280.[Abstract]
Yoshida K, Watanabe D, Ishikane H, Tachibana M, Pastan I & Nakanishi S (2001). A key role of starburst amacrine cells in originating retinal directional selectivity and optokinetic eye movement. Neuron 30, 771780.[CrossRef][Medline]
| Acknowledgements |
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
W. Sun, Q. Deng, W. R. Levick, and S. He ON direction-selective ganglion cells in the mouse retina J. Physiol., October 1, 2006; 576(1): 197 - 202. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. M. Ackert, S. H. Wu, J. C. Lee, J. Abrams, E. H. Hu, I. Perlman, and S. A. Bloomfield Light-induced changes in spike synchronization between coupled ON direction selective ganglion cells in the mammalian retina. J. Neurosci., April 19, 2006; 26(16): 4206 - 4215. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Weng, W. Sun, and S. He Identification of ON-OFF direction-selective ganglion cells in the mouse retina J. Physiol., February 1, 2005; 562(3): 915 - 923. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |