TY - JOUR
T1 - Connexin36 is essential for transmission of rod-mediated visual signals in the mammalian retina
AU - Deans, Michael R.
AU - Volgyi, Bela
AU - Goodenough, Daniel A.
AU - Bloomfield, Stewart A.
AU - Paul, David L.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for the superb technical assistance of Marta Mastroianni and Maggie Vanderberg in managing the animal colonies. This study was supported by an Ilfeld Foundation award to D.L.P., National Institutes of Health grants GM37751 to D.L.P, GM18974 to D.A.G., EY07360 to S.A.B., a Fight-for-Sight Postdoctoral Fellowship to B.V. from Prevent Blindness America, Inc., and NIH P30-HD18655 to MRRC at Children's Hospital, Boston.
PY - 2002/11/14
Y1 - 2002/11/14
N2 - To examine the functions of electrical synapses in the transmission of signals from rod photoreceptors to ganglion cells, we generated connexin36 knockout mice. Reporter expression indicated that connexin36 was present in multiple retinal neurons including rod photoreceptors, cone bipolar cells, and AII amacrine cells. Disruption of electrical synapses between adjacent AIIs and between AIIs and ON cone bipolars was demonstrated by intracellular injection of Neurobiotin. In addition, extracellular recording in the knockout revealed the complete elimination of rod-mediated, on-center responses at the ganglion cell level. These data represent direct proof that electrical synapses are critical for the propagation of rod signals across the mammalian retina, and they demonstrate the existence of multiple rod pathways, each of which is dependent on electrical synapses.
AB - To examine the functions of electrical synapses in the transmission of signals from rod photoreceptors to ganglion cells, we generated connexin36 knockout mice. Reporter expression indicated that connexin36 was present in multiple retinal neurons including rod photoreceptors, cone bipolar cells, and AII amacrine cells. Disruption of electrical synapses between adjacent AIIs and between AIIs and ON cone bipolars was demonstrated by intracellular injection of Neurobiotin. In addition, extracellular recording in the knockout revealed the complete elimination of rod-mediated, on-center responses at the ganglion cell level. These data represent direct proof that electrical synapses are critical for the propagation of rod signals across the mammalian retina, and they demonstrate the existence of multiple rod pathways, each of which is dependent on electrical synapses.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0896-6273(02)01046-2
DO - 10.1016/S0896-6273(02)01046-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 12441058
AN - SCOPUS:0037079080
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 36
SP - 703
EP - 712
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 4
ER -