Local processing in neurites of VGluT3-expressing amacrine cells differentially organizes visual information
- Washington University School of Medicine, United States
- Allen Institute for Brain Science, United States
Abstract
Neurons receive synaptic inputs on extensive neurite arbors. How information is organized across arbors and how local processing in neurites contributes to circuit function is mostly unknown. Here, we used two-photon Ca2+ imaging to study visual processing in VGluT3-expressing amacrine cells (VG3‑ACs) in the mouse retina. Contrast preferences (ON vs. OFF) varied across VG3‑AC arbors depending on the laminar position of neurites, with ON responses preferring larger stimuli than OFF responses. Although arbors of neighboring cells overlap extensively, imaging population activity revealed continuous topographic maps of visual space in the VG3‑AC plexus. All VG3‑AC neurites responded strongly to object motion, but remained silent during global image motion. Thus, VG3‑AC arbors limit vertical and lateral integration of contrast and location information, respectively. We propose that this local processing enables the dense VG3‑AC plexus to contribute precise object motion signals to diverse targets without distorting target-specific contrast preferences and spatial receptive fields.
Article and author information
Author details
Daniel Kerschensteiner
Funding
National Eye Institute (EY023341)
- Daniel Kerschensteiner
Research to Prevent Blindness
- Daniel Kerschensteiner
National Eye Institute (EY026978)
- Daniel Kerschensteiner
National Eye Institute (EY 027411)
- Daniel Kerschensteiner
McDonnell International Scholars Academy
- Jen-Chun Hsiang
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM008151-32)
- Keith Johnson
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All procedures in this study were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Washington University School of Medicine (Protocol # 20170033 and were performed in compliance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
Copyright
© 2017, Hsiang 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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Local processing in neurites of VGluT3-expressing amacrine cells differentially organizes visual information
eLife 6:e31307.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.31307
