Interaction of photoreceptor-driven signals in the mouse electroretinogram

视觉是人类最重要的感官输入，失明是影响人类生活质量的重要因素。因此，了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平行路径。来自不同类型光感受器的信息有不同的入口进入受体后视网膜通路，该通路将信息传输到大脑的几个区域，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，研究来自单一光感受器类型的信号在视网膜中是如何处理的，以及这些信号在感受器后如何相互作用是很重要的。然而，目前对完整小鼠体内杆状和锥状细胞驱动的信号之间的相互作用缺乏全面的描述。在之前的研究中，我们已经利用沉默替代范式表征了时间频率、对比度、平均视网膜照度和平均色度对起源于小鼠视杆和视锥的视网膜电图(ERG)信号的影响。为了能够获得令人满意的信噪比信号，我们使用了所谓的LIAIS小鼠，其中用人的L锥色素取代了天然的M锥色素。除此之外，这些小鼠在解剖和生理上都是正常的。LIAIS小鼠和沉默替代范式的使用使研究得以扩展，目标是体内和完整生物体中杆状和锥体驱动信号之间的相互作用(即具有完全功能的光感受器和受体后机制，包括不同细胞类型和细胞回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.