Determinants of retinal generators and modulation of retinal output signal

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The electroretinogram (ERG) is an old clinical investigation tool developed in the 1950's that has recently regained momentum in basic and clinical sciences as an adjunct exploratory tool to genetically modified animal models. It is a complex composite evoked biopotential elicited at the level of the retina by a visual stimulus. We thus propose to study the interplay of the complex retinal generators after specific neuronal circuits have been pharmacologically dissociated, in several animal species commonly used in research and for different modalities of ERGs. This will be the basis of the development of ERG model for the swine, guinea pig and the rat, which all have different ERG characteristics more of less similar to human ones. Furthermore, we will study how the changes in the ERG signal translate into modifications of the retinal output (spike trains characteristics of retinal ganglion cells). We also propose to study the impact of anesthesia on the neural processing with the retina as the model, as this is a very neglected field of research that has a major impact on our interpretation of animal results. Finally, we want to quantify the waveform of the ERG signal by wavelet analysis, as we believe this contains useful information not detected by looking at the traditional amplitude and implicit time parameters. The research program proposed will take place in a rich multidisciplinary environment and will offer training opportunities that will link clinical and basic sciences.