Connectivity map of bipolar cells and photoreceptors in the mouse retina

  1. Christian Behrens
  2. Timm Schubert
  3. Silke Haverkamp
  4. Thomas Euler
  5. Philipp Berens  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Tübingen, Germany
  2. 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.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Christian Behrens

    Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Timm Schubert

    Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Silke Haverkamp

    Institute of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Thomas Euler

    Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4567-6966
  5. Philipp Berens

    Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
    For correspondence
    philipp.berens@uni-tuebingen.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0199-4727

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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  1. Christian Behrens
  2. Timm Schubert
  3. Silke Haverkamp
  4. Thomas Euler
  5. Philipp Berens
(2016)
Connectivity map of bipolar cells and photoreceptors in the mouse retina
eLife 5:e20041.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20041

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20041

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