Retinal neurotransmitters and synaptic circuitry

描述(申请人提供)：本研究的长期目标 是为了阐明脊椎动物视网膜内的神经化学回路。 谷氨酸受体分子的定位将受到关注 定义突触部位，目的是了解这些受体是如何 对视网膜内信息处理的重要任务做出贡献。 包埋前和包埋后的免疫细胞化学技术将用于 可视化亲离子受体的亚单位(AMPA-、KA-和NMDA-选择性 以及猫视网膜中的代谢性谷氨酸受体。 将使用双标记方法来确定亚基之间的关联 在受体类内和受体类在突触的位置 联系人。受体类内亚基的共定位将 提供标记位点上可能的异构体组装的指示以及 受体在突触的位置具有重要的意义。 关于谷氨酸对它们的激活的可用性。 其他实验将利用单个双相和双相细胞内填充 神经节细胞结合受体免疫细胞化学的研究 一组谷氨酸受体分子，它们在特定的细胞之间起中介作用。 联系人。这些研究将检验这样的假设，即每个亚群 双极细胞在内丛状层内维持其特异性 与其目标细胞上的一组独特的受体和推论接触， 神经节细胞区分来自多种类型双极的输入 基于突触后受体含量差异的细胞 网站。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this research is to elucidate the neurochemical circuitry within the vertebrate retina. Attention will be given to the localization of glutamate receptor molecules at defined synaptic sites with the goal of understanding of how these receptors contribute to the vital task of information processing within the retina. Pre-embedding and post-embedding immunocytochemical techniques will be used to visualize subunits of ionotropic receptors (AMPA-, KA-, and NMDA-selective classes) as well as the metabotropic glutamate receptors in the cat retina. Double-labeling methods will be used to determine the association of subunits within a receptor class and the positioning of receptor classes at synaptic contacts. Co-localizations of subunits from within a receptor class will provide an indication of possible heteromeric assembly at the labeled sites and the positioning of receptors at the synapse has important implications regarding the availability of glutamate for their activation. Other experiments will utilize intracellular filling of individual bipolar and ganglion cells in combination with receptor immunocytochemistry to characterize the sets of glutamate receptor molecules that mediate specific cell to cell contacts. These studies will test the hypothesis that each subpopulation of bipolar cell maintains its specificity within the inner plexiform layer by contacting a unique set of receptors on its target cells and the corollary, that ganglion cells distinguish among inputs from multiple types of bipolar cells on the basis of differences in receptor content at the post-synaptic sites.