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Visual Experience Influences Dendritic Orientation but Is Not Required for Asymmetric Wiring of the Retinal Direction Selective Circuit.

ABSTRACT: Changes in dendritic morphology in response to activity have long been thought to be a critical component of how neural circuits develop to properly encode sensory information. Ventral-preferring direction-selective ganglion cells (vDSGCs) have asymmetric dendrites oriented along their preferred direction, and this has been hypothesized to play a critical role in their tuning. Here we report the surprising result that visual experience is critical for the alignment of vDSGC dendrites to their preferred direction. Interestingly, vDSGCs in dark-reared mice lose their inhibition-independent dendritic contribution to direction-selective tuning while maintaining asymmetric inhibitory input. These data indicate that different mechanisms of a cell's computational abilities can be constructed over development through divergent mechanisms.

SUBMITTER: El-Quessny M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7373152 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Visual Experience Influences Dendritic Orientation but Is Not Required for Asymmetric Wiring of the Retinal Direction Selective Circuit.

El-Quessny Malak M Maanum Kayla K Feller Marla B MB

Cell reports 20200601 13

Changes in dendritic morphology in response to activity have long been thought to be a critical component of how neural circuits develop to properly encode sensory information. Ventral-preferring direction-selective ganglion cells (vDSGCs) have asymmetric dendrites oriented along their preferred direction, and this has been hypothesized to play a critical role in their tuning. Here we report the surprising result that visual experience is critical for the alignment of vDSGC dendrites to their pr ...[more]

PMID: 32610144

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