Premium
Increased density and age‐related sharing of synapses at the cone to OFF bipolar cell synapse in the mouse retina
Author(s) -
Simmons Aaron B.,
Camerino Michael J.,
Clemons Mellisa R.,
Sukeena Joshua M.,
Bloomsburg Samuel,
Borghuis Bart G.,
Fuerst Peter G.
Publication year - 2020
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.24810
Subject(s) - biology , synapse , retina , postsynaptic potential , neuroscience , synaptogenesis , nervous system , postsynaptic density , synapse formation , neural development , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , receptor , excitatory postsynaptic potential , biochemistry , gene
Abstract Neural circuits in the adult nervous system are characterized by stable, cell type‐specific patterns of synaptic connectivity. In many parts of the nervous system these patterns are established during development through initial over‐innervation by multiple pre‐ or postsynaptic targets, followed by a process of refinement that takes place during development and is in many instances activity dependent. Here we report on an identified synapse in the mouse retina, the cone photoreceptor➔type 4 bipolar cell (BC4) synapse, and show that its development is distinctly different from the common motif of over‐innervation followed by refinement. Indeed, the majority of cones are contacted by single BC4 throughout development, but are contacted by multiple BC4s through ongoing dendritic elaboration between 1 and 6 months of age—well into maturity. We demonstrate that cell density drives contact patterns downstream of single cones in Bax null mice and may serve to maintain constancy in both the dendritic and axonal projective field.