Gap junctional coupling between retinal amacrine and ganglion cells underlies coherent activity integral to global object perception.

ABSTRACT: Coherent spike activity occurs between widely separated retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in response to a large, contiguous object, but not to disjointed objects. Since the large spatial separation between the RGCs precludes common excitatory inputs from bipolar cells, the mechanism underlying this long-range coherence remains unclear. Here, we show that electrical coupling between RGCs and polyaxonal amacrine cells in mouse retina forms the synaptic mechanism responsible for long-range coherent activity in the retina. Pharmacological blockade of gap junctions or genetic ablation of connexin 36 (Cx36) subunits eliminates the long-range correlated spiking between RGCs. Moreover, we find that blockade of gap junctions or ablation of Cx36 significantly reduces the ability of mice to discriminate

SUBMITTER: Roy K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5715748 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature