Dataset Information

Ribbon synapses compute temporal contrast and encode luminance in retinal rod bipolar cells.

ABSTRACT: Contrast is computed throughout the nervous system to encode changing inputs efficiently. The retina encodes luminance and contrast over a wide range of visual conditions and must adapt its responses to maintain sensitivity and to avoid saturation. We examined the means by which one type of adaptation allows individual synapses to compute contrast and encode luminance in biphasic responses to step changes in light levels. Light-evoked depletion of the readily releasable vesicle pool (RRP) at rod bipolar cell ribbon synapses in rat retina limited the dynamic range available to encode transient, but not sustained, responses, thereby allowing the transient and sustained components of release to compute temporal contrast and encode mean light levels, respectively. A release/replenishment model revealed that a single, homogeneous pool of synaptic vesicles is sufficient to generate this behavior and that a partial depletion of the RRP is the dominant mechanism for shaping the biphasic contrast/luminance response.

SUBMITTER: Oesch NW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3225507 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Ribbon synapses compute temporal contrast and encode luminance in retinal rod bipolar cells.

Oesch Nicholas W NW Diamond Jeffrey S JS

Nature neuroscience 20111023 12

Contrast is computed throughout the nervous system to encode changing inputs efficiently. The retina encodes luminance and contrast over a wide range of visual conditions and must adapt its responses to maintain sensitivity and to avoid saturation. We examined the means by which one type of adaptation allows individual synapses to compute contrast and encode luminance in biphasic responses to step changes in light levels. Light-evoked depletion of the readily releasable vesicle pool (RRP) at rod ...[more]

PMID: 22019730

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Project description:Upon degeneration of photoreceptors in the adult retina, interneurons, including bipolar cells, exhibit a plastic response leading to their aberrant rewiring. Photoreceptor reintroduction has been suggested as a potential approach to sight restoration, but the ability of deafferented bipolar cells to establish functional synapses with photoreceptors is poorly understood. Here we use photocoagulation to selectively destroy photoreceptors in adult rabbits while preserving the inner retina. We find that rods and cones shift into the ablation zone over several weeks, reducing the blind spot at scotopic and photopic luminances. During recovery, rod and cone bipolar cells exhibit markedly different responses to deafferentation. Rod bipolar cells extend their dendrites to form new synapses with healthy photoreceptors outside the lesion, thereby restoring visual function in the deafferented retina. Secretagogin-positive cone bipolar cells did not exhibit such obvious dendritic restructuring. These findings are encouraging to the idea of photoreceptor reintroduction for vision restoration in patients blinded by retinal degeneration. At the same time, they draw attention to the postsynaptic side of photoreceptor reintroduction; various bipolar cell types, representing different visual pathways, vary in their response to the photoreceptor loss and in their consequent dendritic restructuring.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Loss of photoreceptors during retinal degeneration results in permanent visual impairment. Strategies for vision restoration based on the reintroduction of photoreceptors inherently rely on the ability of the remaining retinal neurons to correctly synapse with new photoreceptors. We show that deafferented bipolar cells in the adult mammalian retina can reconnect to rods and cones and restore retinal sensitivity at scotopic and photopic luminances. Rod bipolar cells extend their dendrites to form new synapses with healthy rod photoreceptors. These findings support the idea that bipolar cells might be able to synapse with reintroduced photoreceptors, thereby restoring vision in patients blinded by retinal degeneration.

Dataset Information

Ribbon synapses compute temporal contrast and encode luminance in retinal rod bipolar cells.

Publications

Ribbon synapses compute temporal contrast and encode luminance in retinal rod bipolar cells.

Similar Datasets

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