Cell type-specific changes in retinal ganglion cell function induced by rod death and cone reorganization in rats.
Abstract
We have determined the impact of rod death and cone reorganization on the spatiotemporal
receptive fields (RFs) and spontaneous activity of distinct retinal ganglion cell
(RGC) types. We compared RGC function between healthy and retinitis pigmentosa (RP)
model rats (S334ter-3) at a time when nearly all rods were lost but cones remained.
This allowed us to determine the impact of rod death on cone-mediated visual signaling,
a relevant time point because the diagnosis of RP frequently occurs when patients
are nightblind but daytime vision persists. Following rod death, functionally distinct
RGC types persisted; this indicates that parallel processing of visual input remained
largely intact. However, some properties of cone-mediated responses were altered ubiquitously
across RGC types, such as prolonged temporal integration and reduced spatial RF area.
Other properties changed in a cell type-specific manner, such as temporal RF shape
(dynamics), spontaneous activity, and direction selectivity. These observations identify
the extent of functional remodeling in the retina following rod death but before cone
loss. They also indicate new potential challenges to restoring normal vision by replacing
lost rod photoreceptors.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study provides novel and therapeutically
relevant insights to retinal function following rod death but before cone death. To
determine changes in retinal output, we used a large-scale multielectrode array to
simultaneously record from hundreds of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). These recordings
of large-scale neural activity revealed that following the death of all rods, functionally
distinct RGCs remain. However, the receptive field properties and spontaneous activity
of these RGCs are altered in a cell type-specific manner.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Retinal Ganglion CellsAnimals
Rats, Long-Evans
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Retinitis Pigmentosa
Disease Models, Animal
Tissue Culture Techniques
Cell Death
Action Potentials
Neuronal Plasticity
Female
Male
Vision, Ocular
Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells
Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16626Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1152/jn.00826.2016Publication Info
Yu, Wan-Qing; Grzywacz, Norberto M; Lee, Eun-Jin; & Field, Greg D (2017). Cell type-specific changes in retinal ganglion cell function induced by rod death
and cone reorganization in rats. Journal of neurophysiology, 118(1). 10.1152/jn.00826.2016. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16626.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Greg D. Field
Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurobiology
My laboratory studies how the retina processes visual scenes and transmits this information
to the brain. We use multi-electrode arrays to record the activity of hundreds of
retina neurons simultaneously in conjunction with transgenic mouse lines and chemogenetics
to manipulate neural circuit function. We are interested in three major areas. First,
we work to understand how neurons in the retina are functionally connected. Second
we are studying how light-adaptation and circadian rhythms a

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