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Directional excitatory input to direction‐selective ganglion cells in the rabbit retina
Author(s) -
Percival Kumiko A.,
Venkataramani Sowmya,
Smith Robert G.,
Taylor W. Rowland
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.24207
Subject(s) - excitatory postsynaptic potential , retina , biology , neuroscience , retinal waves , glutamate receptor , voltage clamp , electrophysiology , ganglion , patch clamp , retinal , biophysics , giant retinal ganglion cells , retinal ganglion cell , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , biochemistry , receptor
Directional responses in retinal ganglion cells are generated in large part by direction‐selective release of γ‐aminobutyric acid from starburst amacrine cells onto direction‐selective ganglion cells (DSGCs). The excitatory inputs to DSGCs are also widely reported to be direction‐selective, however, recent evidence suggests that glutamate release from bipolar cells is not directional, and directional excitation seen in patch‐clamp analyses may be an artifact resulting from incomplete voltage control. Here, we test this voltage‐clamp‐artifact hypothesis in recordings from 62 ON‐OFF DSGCs in the rabbit retina. The strength of the directional excitatory signal varies considerably across the sample of cells, but is not correlated with the strength of directional inhibition, as required for a voltage‐clamp artifact. These results implicate additional mechanisms in generating directional excitatory inputs to DSGCs.