Modulation of gap junction coupling in the vertebrate retina

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The vertebrate retina is a thin sheet of central nervous system tissue lining the back of the eye that transduces the image of the visual world into an electrochemical signal and processes this signal generating parallel pathways encoding different aspect of the visual scene. Gap junctions, the structural correlate of direct electrical coupling between cells, are important participants in the circuitry of the vertebrate retina. The following research focuses on two different aspects of gap junction coupling in the vertebrate retina. First, we propose to continue our studies of the modulation of retinal horizontal cell coupling in the teleost retina by focusing on a potential new source of the neuromodulator dopamine. Second, we will further our study of the coupling of a new type of ganglion cell, the intrinsically light-sensitive, melanopsin-containing ganglion cells, in the mammalian retina.