Horizontal cell synapses onto glycine-accumulating interplexiform cells

Horizontal cells mediate lateral transmission of signals in the outer plexiform layer of the vertebrate retina, and are presumed to contribute to surround properties of photoreceptors and bipolar cells by chemical transmission. The cell bodies and dendrites of fish horizontal cells possess presynaptic specializations characteristic of conventional chemical synapses. Horizontal cell axon terminals have not so far been shown to contain presynaptic specializations nor have the targets of the somatic and dendritic synapses been fully characterized. Using electron microscope autoradiography of retinas labelled by high-affinity 3H-glycine uptake, we show here that goldfish horizontal cells make somatodendritic and axodendritic synapses on glycinergic interplexiform cells (Gly-IPCs) as apposed to dopaminergic interplexiform cells. Thus, horizontal cells have at least three postsynaptic targets: photoreceptors, bipolar cells and Gly-IPCs. Gly-IPCs may constitute a major alternative pathway for horizontal cell signals to reach the inner plexiform layer.     

Dopamine modulates S-potential amplitude and dye-coupling between external horizontal cells in carp retina

Horizontal cells in the fish retina are electrically coupled and possess gap junctions so that intracellularly injected dye normally diffuses freely to neighbouring cells. Applied dopamine (DA) alters the spatial properties of the horizontal cell responses to light, increasing the amplitude of photopic L-type S-potentials but decreasing their lateral spread. These effects have been attributed to the action of DA on horizontal cell membrane resistance, particularly at the gap junctions, and our present study on the carp retina agrees with this in showing that DA also restricts intracellular Lucifer yellow (LY) to single injected horizontal cells, an effect, like those of DA on the S-potentials, which is antagonized by the dopamine blocker haloperidol. In addition, we present evidence that dopaminergic interplexiform cells in fish normally function to regulate the spatial properties of responses in horizontal cells, possibly acting on their junctional resistance via a DA-receptor-mediated mechanism. Previous destruction of the interplexiform cells with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) resulted in much reduced L-type S-potentials to centred lights but wider lateral spread of these responses, while the dye injected spread extensively to neighbouring cells. After 6-OHDA treatment, however, applied DA retained its normal activity, restoring large-amplitude, narrow receptive-field S-potentials and restricting LY to the injected cells, effects which were both closely mimicked by dibutyryl cyclic AMP.     

Transmembrane semaphorin signalling controls laminar stratification in the mammalian retina

In the vertebrate retina, establishment of precise synaptic connections among distinct retinal neuron cell types is critical for processing visual information and for accurate visual perception. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), amacrine cells and bipolar cells establish stereotypic neurite arborization patterns to form functional neural circuits in the inner plexiform layer (IPL), a laminar region that is conventionally divided into five major parallel sublaminae. However, the molecular mechanisms governing distinct retinal subtype targeting to specific sublaminae within the IPL remain to be elucidated. Here we show that the transmembrane semaphorin Sema6A signals through its receptor PlexinA4 (PlexA4) to control lamina-specific neuronal stratification in the mouse retina. Expression analyses demonstrate that Sema6A and PlexA4 proteins are expressed in a complementary fashion in the developing retina: Sema6A in most ON sublaminae and PlexA4 in OFF sublaminae of the IPL. Mice with null mutations in PlexA4 or Sema6A exhibit severe defects in stereotypic lamina-specific neurite arborization of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-expressing dopaminergic amacrine cells, intrinsically photosensitive RGCs (ipRGCs) and calbindin-positive cells in the IPL. Sema6A and PlexA4 genetically interact in vivo for the regulation of dopaminergic amacrine cell laminar targeting. Therefore, neuronal targeting to subdivisions of the IPL in the mammalian retina is directed by repulsive transmembrane guidance cues present on neuronal processes.     

Novel pathway connecting the outer and inner vertebrate retina

In many fish retinas, thin axons from the external horizontal cells extend through the inner nuclear layer and expand into large terminal processes that lie along the border of the inner nuclear and inner plexiform layers. Although the horizontal-cell axon terminals are structurally very prominent, their function is unknown. Here we report morphological and functional evidence that signals from catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) horizontal-cell axon terminals can be transmitted directly to amacrine cells. Current injected into horizontal-cell axon terminals produces responses from both transient and sustained amacrine cells very similar to those elicited by light stimuli. Electron microscope observations show chemical synapses from the axon terminals onto amacrine cell perikarya and processes. These data suggest that amacrine cells in the catfish retina receive two inputs, one from bipolar cells and the other from horizontal-cell axon terminals.     

Ganglion cell dendrites are presynaptic in catfish retina

The retinal ganglion cells are third-order, spike-generating neurones whose axons transmit the output of the retina to the rest of the brain. It has long been believed that the dendrites of the retinal ganglion cells, like the dendrites of most other Golgi type I neurones, are only postsynaptic. Here we have studied the synapses made onto the ganglion cells in the catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), and we report that the distal dendrites of large-field ganglion cells make conventional chemical synapses onto other inner plexiform layer processes. We have also found that, more than 100 microns away from the cell perikaryon, the synapses made onto and by these ganglion cell dendrites are often tightly clustered. These synaptic clusters appear to be quite regularly spaced along the dendrites. Our results have important implications for the identification of ganglion cell dendrites within the inner plexiform layer as well as for the understanding of the ganglion cell response and receptive field generation.     

GAP-43在锦鲤荒漠沙蜥和雉鸡视网膜内分布的免疫组化研究

GAP-43具有多种功能,主要与神经元轴突的生长、再生、神经递质的释放及膜泡的吞噬有关.本研究用免疫组织化学的方法观察了正常成年锦鲤、荒漠沙蜥和雉鸡视网膜内GAP-43分布.结果显示GAP-43主要分布在内网层,另外,在内核层、外网层、光感受器细胞层因动物不同也呈现不同的分布特点,而在节细胞层中3种动物均未发现GAP-43阳性染色.在锦鲤视网膜中GAP-43主要分布在内网层和内核层的无长突细胞;在荒漠沙蜥视网膜中GAP-43主要分布在内网层和外网层,在雉鸡视网膜中GAP-43主要分布在内网层、外网层、外核层和光感受器外节,其中在雉鸡视网膜外核层和光感受器外节中发现阳性分布是在脊椎动物此层发现GAP-43的首次报道.     

Long-distance intraretinal connections in birds

Electrophysiological experiments have shown in both birds and mammals that remote parts of the retina, several millimetres apart, interact at the retinal level. The anatomical basis of this is poorly understood, although in mammals some cells in the ganglion cell layer have axons that terminate in the inner plexiform layer several millimetres from the cell body. In birds, the longest previously reported intraretinal connections were from amacrine cells, extending only a few hundred microns. But we here describe very long connections that span almost the entire extent of the retina in chicks and chick embryos. The parent cell bodies are in the inner nuclear layer of the ventral half of the retina, and they project in topographical order onto the dorsal half. They do not project to the brain. They may be involved in selective switching of attention between the upper and lower parts of the visual field, at an unprecedentedly early stage of visual processing.     

大鼠不完全性视网膜缺血的组织学变化

采用双侧颈总动脉阻断血流（２ＶＯ）的方法，造成大鼠不完全性视网膜缺血，用组织学方法观察了不同缺血时间（３０、９０ｍｉｎ，４、７、３０ｄ）的缺血后再灌注与不再灌流对视网膜变化的影响。结果显示：缺血３０和９０ｍｉｎ再灌流４ｄ后，内炕网膜（包括外网层、内核层、内网层、节细胞层、神经纤维怪和内界膜）明显增厚；其他不再灌流的缺血组，厚度趋向减少。节细胞计数随缺血时间延长逐渐减少；缺血４ｄ后明显减少。提示不完     

初孵扬子鳄大脑皮层组织学结构观察

本文用光镜对扬子鳄大脑皮层的组织学结构进行了研究 .扬子鳄大脑皮层可分为外网状层、细胞层和内网状层三层 ,神经细胞绝大多数集中于细胞层内 ,内、外网状层中零星分布一些小细胞 .从内侧到外侧 ,大脑皮层可分为海马、新皮质和梨状皮质三部分 ,三者之间无明显界线 ,细胞排布有所区别 .本文对扬子鳄的大脑皮层同其他脊椎动物的进行了比较讨论 .     

Vertical interactions across ten parallel, stacked representations in the mammalian retina

The mammalian visual system analyses the world through a set of separate spatio-temporal channels. The organization of these channels begins in the retina, where the precise laminations of both the axon terminals of bipolar cells and the dendritic arborizations of ganglion cells suggests the presence of a vertical stack of neural strata at the inner plexiform layer (IPL). Conversely, many inhibitory amacrine cell classes are multiply or diffusely stratified, indicating that they might convey information between strata. On the basis of the diverse stratification and physiological properties of ganglion cells, it was suggested that the IPL contains a parallel set of representations of the visual world embodied in the strata and conveyed to higher centres by the classes of ganglion cells whose dendrites ramify at that stratum. Here we show that each stratum receives unique and substantively different excitatory and inhibitory neural inputs that are integrated to form at least ten different, parallel space-time spiking outputs. The response properties of these strata are ordered in the time domain. Inhibition through GABAC receptors extracts spatial edges in neural representations and seems to separate the functional properties of the strata. We describe a new form of neuronal interaction that we call 'vertical inhibition' that acts not laterally, but between strata.     

Substance P-immunoreactive retinal ganglion cells and their central axon terminals in the rabbit

Retinal ganglion cells are the projection neurons that link the retina to the brain. Peptide immunoreactive cells in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) of the mammalian retina have been noted but their identity has not been determined. We now report that, in the rabbit, 25-35% of all retinal ganglion cells contain substance P-like (SP) immunoreactivity. They were identified by either retrograde transport of fluorescent tracers injected into the superior colliculus, or by retrograde degeneration after optic nerve section. SP immunoreactive cells are present in all parts of the retina and have medium to large cell bodies with dendrites that ramify extensively in the proximal inner plexiform layer. Their axons terminate in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, superior colliculus and accessory optic nuclei, and these terminals disappear completely after contralateral optic nerve section and/or eye enucleation. In the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus large, beaded, immunoreactive axons and varicosities make up a narrow plexus just below the optic tract, where they define a new geniculate lamina. The varicosities make multiple synaptic contacts with dendrites of dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus projection neurons and presumptive interneurons in complex glomerular neuropil. This is direct evidence that some mammalian retinal ganglion cells contain substance P-like peptides and strongly suggests that, in the rabbit, substance P (or related tachykinins) may be a transmitter or modulator in a specific population or populations of retinal ganglion cells.     

Dscam and Sidekick proteins direct lamina-specific synaptic connections in vertebrate retina

Synaptic circuits in the retina transform visual input gathered by photoreceptors into messages that retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) send to the brain. Processes of retinal interneurons (amacrine and bipolar cells) form synapses on dendrites of RGCs in the inner plexiform layer (IPL). The IPL is divided into at least 10 parallel sublaminae; subsets of interneurons and RGCs arborize and form synapses in just one or a few of them. These lamina-specific circuits determine the visual features to which RGC subtypes respond. Here we show that four closely related immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) adhesion molecules--Dscam (Down's syndrome cell adhesion molecule), DscamL (refs 6-9), Sidekick-1 and Sidekick-2 (ref. 10)--are expressed in chick by non-overlapping subsets of interneurons and RGCs that form synapses in distinct IPL sublaminae. Moreover, each protein is concentrated within the appropriate sublaminae and each mediates homophilic adhesion. Loss- and gain-of-function studies in vivo indicate that these IgSF members participate in determining the IPL sublaminae in which synaptic partners arborize and connect. Thus, vertebrate Dscams, like Drosophila Dscams, play roles in neural connectivity. Together, our results on Dscams and Sidekicks suggest the existence of an IgSF code for laminar specificity in retina and, by implication, in other parts of the central nervous system.     

Two types of orientation-sensitive responses of amacrine cells in the mammalian retina.

Neurons sensitive to the orientation of light stimuli exist throughout the mammalian visual system, suggesting that this spatial feature is a fundamental cue used by the brain to decipher visual information. The most peripheral neurons known to show orientation sensitivity are the retinal ganglion cells. Considerable morphological and pharmacological data suggest that the orientation sensitivity of ganglion cells is formed, at least partly, by the amacrine cells, which are laterally oriented interneurons presynaptic to the ganglion cells in the inner plexiform layer. So far there have been few studies of the responses of amacrine cells to oriented visual stimuli and their role in forming orientation-sensitive responses in the retina remains unclear. Here I report the novel finding of a population of amacrine cells in the rabbit retina which are orientation-sensitive. These amacrine cells can be divided into two subtypes, whose orientation sensitivity is manufactured by two distinct mechanisms. The orientation sensitivity of the first subtype of amacrine cell is formed from the interactions of excitatory, centre-receptive field synaptic inputs and inhibitory inputs of opposite polarity, whereas that for cells of the second subtype seems to be the product of a marked asymmetry in their dendritic arbors.     

初生扬子鳄嗅球、嗅束的组织学结构研究

本文采用尼氏,Ｈ．Ｅ．及Ｈａｇｑｕｉｓｔ等染色方法对扬子鳄的嗅球,嗅束的显微结构进行了研究,横切面上,嗅球可分为清晰的８层,从外到内,分别是神经纤维层,小球层,外颗粒层,外网状层,僧帽细胞层,内网状层,内颗粒层和室慕支。嗅束的横切面上可见梨状皮质,海马及嗅前核等结构。     

光照对棕色田鼠和昆明小鼠眼胚后发育的影响

研究棕色田鼠和昆明小鼠在不同光照处理条件下视网膜各层厚度及细胞密度,进而对其视觉系统发育特征进行比较.结果表明在黑暗条件下,昆明小鼠视网膜的总厚度趋于变薄,棕色田鼠则相反;在有光情况下,棕色田鼠视网膜总厚度趋于变薄,昆明小鼠则相反;不同的光照处理条件下,两种鼠视网膜的外核层和内核层的核层均逐渐由厚变薄.研究结果提示,在视觉系统发育过程中,地上鼠和地下鼠的视网膜可对不同的光照条件产生适应性的结构变化,反映了二者进化史的差异.     

Mechanosensitivity of mammalian auditory hair cells in vitro

Intracellular responses recorded in vitro from the cochleas of anaesthetized mammals have shown that the mechanoreceptive inner and outer hair cells are sharply tuned, accounting for many of the properties of the afferent fibres in the auditory nerve. However, in vivo it has not been possible to measure directly the excitatory mechanical input to these cells (the displacement of their mechanosensitive stereocilia) and thus to determine the relationship between the receptor potentials and displacement of their stereocilia. As a means of circumventing this technical difficulty, we have developed an organ culture of the mouse cochlea and here we describe the receptor potentials generated by the hair cells in response to direct displacement of their stereocilia.     

花背蟾蜍变态前后眼各部位Con A受体的荧光显微镜观察

本文以花背蟾蜍变态前后的眼为材料,运用 Con A-FITC 在荧光显微镜下观察了眼变态前后 Con A 受体的变化.结果表明:变态前內处角膜愈合处的 Con A 受体较多;晶体上皮的外表面比内表面 Con A 受体多;视网膜各层扬构的 Con A 受体分布差异较大.变态后角膜上皮的细胞膜,角膜基质和角膜内皮中均有 Con A 受体分布;晶状体仅晶体上皮有 Con A受体分布;视网膜中内界膜,内网层,外网层,外界膜,视杆视锥细胞层和色素上皮层的内外表面 Con A 受体较多:节细胞层,内核层和外核层仅细胞表面有少量的 Con A 受体分布.推测眼在变态前后 Con A 受体数量和分布上的变化与眼各部位细胞的分化,结构的组建和视觉功能的完善有关.     

Non-retinotopic arrangement of fibres in cat optic nerve

Fibres in the mammalian optic nerve are generally thought to be organised retinotopically. Recording electrophysiologically from the cat optic nerve, we found little evidence to support this notion, which led us to investigate the problem by anatomical methods. We made a localised injection of horseradish peroxidase into the lateral geniculate body of the cat, labelling a small clump of retinal ganglion cells and their axons in the optic nerve. These fibres, emanating from neighbouring cells in the retina, became widely scattered through the optic nerve, indicating that retinotopic order is essentially lacking.