Novel rod and blue cone signaling pathways in the retina

描述（由申请人提供）：视网膜是一种专门的神经结构，它将图像转换为电信号，然后将电信号传输到大脑的其余部分。哺乳动物视网膜用来科普大范围入射光强度和波长的基本策略是将输入分离到不同的处理途径中。例如，视杆细胞和视锥细胞的信号是由不同的双极细胞处理的，对蓝色和更长波长敏感的视锥细胞也是如此。然而，最近的解剖学和生理学研究结果，挑战了这一观点的隔离电路的水平上的锥双极细胞接触。具体目标1将使用共聚焦显微镜来全面绘制不同类型的光感受器和已识别的双极细胞之间的接触;目标2将使用视网膜切片中的细胞对记录来确定非正统突触连接的功能;目标3将确定信号混合对视网膜正常功能的影响。当特定的通路被疾病损害时，将信号从外视网膜传送到内视网膜的双极细胞通路的多样性可以为视网膜提供一些冗余。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The retina is a specialized neural structure that transforms an image into electrical signals which are then transmitted to the rest of the brain. A fundamental strategy used by the mammalian retina to cope with a wide range of incident light intensities and wavelengths is to segregate inputs into different processing pathways. For example, rod and cone signals are processed by separate bipolar cells, as are signals arising in blue- and longer wavelength-sensitive cones. Recent anatomical and physiological results, however, have challenged this view of segregated circuits at the level of the cone to bipolar cell contacts. Specific Aim 1 will use confocal microscopy to comprehensively map the contacts between the different types of photoreceptors and identified bipolar cells; Aim 2 will determine the function of unorthodox synaptic connections using cell-pair recording in retinal slices; and, Aim 3 will determine the consequences of signal mixing for the normal function of the retina. A multiplicity of bipolar cell pathways carrying signals from the outer to the inner retina may provide the retina with some redundancy when specific pathways are damaged by disease.