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Pathway-specific asymmetries between ON and OFF visual signals
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Visual processing is largely organized into
ON and OFF pathways that signal stimulus increments and decrements, respectively.
These pathways exhibit natural pairings based on morphological and physiological similarities,
such as ON and OFF alpha ganglion cells in the mammalian retina. Several studies have
noted asymmetries in the properties of ON and OFF pathways. For example, the spatial
receptive fields (RFs) of OFF alpha cells are systematically smaller than ON alpha
cells. Analysis of natural scenes suggests these asymmetries are optimal for visual
encoding. To test the generality of ON-OFF asymmetries, we measured the spatiotemporal
RF properties of multiple RGC types in rat retina. Through a quantitative and serial
classification, we identified three functional pairs of ON and OFF RGCs. We analyzed
the structure of their RFs and compared spatial integration, temporal integration,
and gain across ON and OFF pairs. Similar to previous results from cat and primate,
RGC types with larger spatial RFs exhibited briefer temporal integration and higher
gain. However, each pair of ON and OFF RGC types exhibited distinct asymmetric relationships
between receptive field properties, some of which were opposite to previous reports.
These results reveal the functional organization of six RGC types in the rodent retina
and indicate that ON-OFF asymmetries are pathway specific.</jats:p><jats:sec><jats:title>Significance
Statement</jats:title><jats:p>Circuits that process sensory input frequently process
increments separately from decrements, so called ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ responses. Theoretical
studies indicate this separation, and associated asymmetries in ON and OFF pathways,
may be beneficial for encoding natural stimuli. However, the generality of ON and
OFF pathway asymmetries has not been tested. Here we compare the functional properties
of three distinct pairs of ON and OFF pathways in the rodent retina and show their
asymmetries are pathway specific. These results provide a new view on the partitioning
of vision across diverse ON and OFF signaling pathways</jats:p></jats:sec>
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22494Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1101/384891Publication Info
Ravi, Sneha; Ahn, Daniel; Greschner, Martin; Chichilnisky, EJ; & Field, Greg (n.d.). Pathway-specific asymmetries between ON and OFF visual signals. 10.1101/384891. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22494.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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