Connectivity map of bipolar cells and photoreceptors in the mouse retina
- University of Tübingen, Germany
- Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract
In the mouse retina, three different types of photoreceptors provide input to 14 bipolar cell (BC) types. Classically, most BC types are thought to contact all cones within their dendritic field; ON-BCs would contact cones exclusively via so-called invaginating synapses, while OFF-BCs would form basal synapses. By mining publically available electron microscopy data, we discovered interesting violations of these rules of outer retinal connectivity: ON-BC type X contacted only ~20% of the cones in its dendritic field and made mostly atypical non-invaginating contacts. Types 5T, 5O and 8 also contacted fewer cones than expected. In addition, we found that rod BCs received input from cones, providing anatomical evidence that rod and cone pathways are interconnected in both directions. This suggests that the organization of the outer plexiform layer is more complex than classically thought.
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Author details
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC 307)
- Thomas Euler
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (FKZ 01GQ1601)
- Philipp Berens
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BE 5601/1-1)
- Philipp Berens
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (FKZ 01GQ1002)
- Thomas Euler
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2016, Behrens et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Connectivity map of bipolar cells and photoreceptors in the mouse retina
eLife 5:e20041.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20041
