Novel rod and blue cone signaling pathways in the retina

描述（由申请人提供）：视网膜是一种特殊的神经结构，它将图像转换成电信号，然后传输到大脑的其他部分。哺乳动物视网膜用来应对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路径。例如，杆状体和锥状体的信号是由单独的双极细胞处理的，蓝色和更长的波长敏感的锥状体产生的信号也是如此。然而，最近的解剖学和生理学结果挑战了这种在锥体水平上与双极细胞接触的隔离电路的观点。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鉴定的双极细胞之间的接触；目的2将利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；目的3将确定信号混合对视网膜正常功能的影响。当特定通路被疾病破坏时，携带信号从外部到内部视网膜的双极细胞通路的多样性可能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.