J Physiol Society Meetings
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Physiology in Press

First published online on June 4, 2004.
Copyright © 2004 by The Physiological Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Rapid PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
558/3/897    most recent
jphysiol.2003.059543v1
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pang, J.-J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, S. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pang, J.-J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, S. M.

Received April 2, 2004
Revised May 4, 2004
Accepted after revision June 4, 2004

Light-evoked current responses in rod bipolar cells, cone depolarizing bipolar cells and AII amacrine cells in dark-adapted mouse retina

Ji-Jie Pang1, Fan Gao1, and Samuel M. Wu1*

1 Baylor College of Medicine

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: swu{at}bcm.tmc.edu.

Light-evoked excitatory cation current ({Delta}IC) and inhibitory chloride current ({Delta}ICl) of rod and cone depolarizing bipolar cells (DBCRs and DBCCs) and AII amacrine cells (AIIACs) in dark-adapted mouse retinal slices were studied by whole-cell voltage clamp recording techniques, and the cell morphology was revealed by Lucifer yellow fluorescence with a confocal microscope. {Delta}IC of all DBCRs exhibited similar high sensitivity to 500 nm light, but two patterns of {Delta}ICl were observed in DBCRs with slightly different axon morphology. At least two types of DBCCs were identified: one with axon terminals ramified in 70-85% of IPL depth and DBCR-like {Delta}IC sensitivity, where the other with axon terminals ramified in 55-75% of IPL depth and much lower {Delta}IC sensitivity. The relative rod/cone inputs to DBCs and AIIACs were analyzed by comparing the {Delta}IC and {Delta}ICl thresholds and dynamic ranges with the corresponding values of rods and cones. On average, the sensitivity of a DBCR to the 500 nm light is about 20 times higher than that of a rod. The sensitivity of an AIIAC is more than 1000 times higher than that of a rod, suggesting that AIIAC responses are pooled through a coupled network of about 40 AIIACs. Interactions of rod and cone signals in dark-adapted mouse retina appear asymmetrical: rod signals spread into the cone system more efficiently than cone signals into the rod system. The mouse synaptic circuitry allows small rod signals to be highly amplified, and effectively transmitted to the cone system via rod/cone and AIIAC/DBCC coupling.


Key words: Bipolar cell • Mouse • Retina







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Copyright © 2004 The Physiological Society.