MEMBRANE MECHANISMS MEDIATING RETINAL FUNCTION

本研究的目的是了解老年人的视功能。 视网膜神经元中潜在的膜事件的术语。这项研究 将按层次顺序进行，从分析 单个细胞中的膜电导可以解释细胞 行为，然后建立对蜂窝网络行为的理解 通过对突触功能的分析。最后，我们希望能够 通过分析细胞和网络来解释视网膜的视觉功能 互动。 支持细胞和突触活动的膜电流将是 应用最新发展的全细胞膜片钳方法进行分析 应用于活体视网膜切片和酶分离技术 细胞。我们的初步结果表明，这些技术允许更多 记录分辨率更高，对电池造成的损害比 传统的方法。使用这些方法，现在每种视网膜细胞类型 似乎利用了各种活动电流来处理视觉 信息，电流早些时候被常规的破坏性影响所掩盖 正在录音。 这些研究将提供有关离子基础的具体信息 个体细胞功能，更好地了解突触功能 视网膜独特的分级电位突触，其特定的作用 在协调蜂窝通信中的发射机系统，以及 信号通过视网膜外侧网络的传播。

The objective of this research is the understanding of visual function in terms of the underlying membrane events in retinal neurons. The research will proceed in a hierarchical order, beginning with an analysis of membrane conductances in individual cells that account for cellular behavior, then building an understanding of cellular network behavior through an analysis of synaptic function. Finally we hope to be able to account for retinal visual function by analyzing cell and network interactions. The membrane currents underlying cellular and synaptic activity will be analyzed using the newly developed methods of whole cell patch clamp technology applied to living retinal slices and enzymatically-isolated cells. Our preliminary results indicate that these techniques allow a much greater resolution of recording and cause less cell damage than conventional methods. Using these methods, each retinal cell-type now appears to utilize a variety of active currents in processing the visual message, currents obscured earlier by the damaging effects of conventional recording. These studies will provide specific information about the ionic basis for individual cell function, a better understanding of synaptic function in the unique graded-potential synapses of the retina, the role of specific transmitter sybstances in mediating cellular communication, and the propagation of signals through lateral retinal networks.