Interaction of photoreceptor-driven signals in the mouse electroretinogram

视觉是人类最重要的感官输入，失明对生活质量构成重大影响。因此，理解导致视觉感知的过程是极其重要的。视觉通过光感受器中的光子吸收开始，视觉处理从第一个突触开始，在那里信息被分配到不同的并行通路中。来自不同感光器类型的信息具有进入后感受器视网膜通路的不同入口，该后感受器视网膜通路将信息传输到几个大脑区域，在那里信息可用于不同的视觉表现，包括有意识的视觉感知。因此，重要的是研究来自单个感光细胞类型的信号如何在视网膜中处理，以及这些信号如何在受体后相互作用。然而，目前缺乏对完整小鼠体内视杆细胞和视锥细胞驱动信号之间相互作用的全面描述。在以往的研究中，我们已经确定了时间频率、对比度、平均视网膜照度和平均色度对小鼠视网膜电图（ERG）信号的影响，这些信号来源于使用沉默替代范式的视杆细胞和视锥细胞。为了能够获得具有令人满意的信噪比的信号，我们使用所谓的LIAIS小鼠，其中天然M-视锥色素被人L-视锥色素替代。除此之外，这些小鼠在解剖学和生理学上是正常的。使用LIAIS小鼠和沉默替代范例能够扩展针对体内和完整生物体中的视杆细胞和视锥细胞驱动信号之间的相互作用的研究（即，具有完全功能的光感受器和感受器后机制，包括不同细胞类型和细胞电路之间的完整交叉连接）。将研究不同类型的相互作用。

Vision is the most important sensory input for humans and blindness constitutes a major impact on the quality of life. It is therefore extremely important to understand the processes that lead to visual perception. Vision starts through photon absorption in the photoreceptors and the visual processing starts at the first synapse where the information is distributed into different parallel pathways. The information from different photoreceptor types have distinct entrances into the post-receptoral retinal pathways that transmit the information to several brain areas where it is available for different visual performances including conscious visual perception. It is therefore important to study how the signals from single photoreceptor types are processed in the retina and how these signals interact post-receptorally. Currently, a thorough description of the interaction between rod- and cone-driven signals in the intact mouse in vivo is, however, lacking. In the proposed project, the different types of interactions will be investigated.In previous studies, we have characterized the influence of temporal frequency, contrast, mean retinal illuminance and mean chromaticity on the electroretinographical (ERG) signals originating in rods and cones in mice using the silent substitution paradigm. To be able to obtain a signal with satisfactory signal to noise ratio, we used the so-called LIAIS mouse where the native M-cone pigment is replaced by the human L-cone pigment. Otherwise, these mice are anatomically and physiologically normal. The use of the LIAIS mouse and the silent substitution paradigm enables extending the studies aiming at the interactions between rod and cone-driven signals in vivo and in the intact organism (i.e. with fully functioning photoreceptors and post-receptoral mechanisms including intact cross-connections between the different cell types and cell circuitries). Different types of interactions will be studied.