Activity plays an important role in guiding the normal development of many areas in the central nervous system (CNS), and the retina is no exception. Interfering with normal sensory input at young ages has profound effects on the development of nervous tissue and can lead to permanent deficits in function. Raising rodents in the dark (""""""""dark rearing"""""""") alters responses recorded in the output neurons of the retina, the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). In order to identify how activity can guide maturation of CNS circuitry, the specific aims of this proposal seek to determine the alterations in retinal circuitry leading to these known changes in retinal output resulting from light-deprivation during development. The RGCs receive their input from bipolar cells, which release glutamate in response to photoreceptor activity. Inhibitory amacrine cells are important for proper control of this bipolar input to RGCs. Using whole- cell patch clamp techniques, the development of amacrine cell inputs to bipolar cells will be examined in the retinas of both normally reared and dark reared animals by recording spontaneous events and by evoking responses from reciprocal synapses made between bipolar terminals and amacrine dendrites. The ability of bipolar cells from different rearing conditions to release glutamate will also be studied by recording evoked responses in RGCs and by measuring calcium entry into isolated bipolar cell terminals, using calcium indicator dyes and fluorescent imaging of acutely isolated bipolar cells in culture. The goal is to determine whether these bipolar cell inputs and/or bipolar cell glutamate release properties are altered by activity deprivation during early development. These properties critically affect RGC output.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32EY007064-01
Application #
6208856
Study Section
Visual Sciences C Study Section (VISC)
Program Officer
Hunter, Chyren
Project Start
2000-09-01
Project End
Budget Start
2000-09-01
Budget End
2001-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$32,416
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Francisco
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
San Francisco
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94143
Renteria, Rene C; Tian, Ning; Cang, Jianhua et al. (2006) Intrinsic ON responses of the retinal OFF pathway are suppressed by the ON pathway. J Neurosci 26:11857-69