Modulation of gap junction coupling in the vertebrate retina

脊椎动物的视网膜是排列在眼睛后部的一层薄薄的中枢神经系统组织，它将视觉世界的图像转换为电化学信号，并对该信号进行处理，产生编码视觉场景不同方面的平行路径。缝隙连接是细胞间直接电耦合的结构关联，是脊椎动物视网膜回路的重要参与者。下面的研究集中在脊椎动物视网膜缝隙连接耦合的两个不同方面。首先，我们建议通过关注神经调节剂多巴胺的潜在新来源来继续我们对硬骨视网膜中视网膜水平细胞耦合的调制的研究。其次，我们将进一步研究哺乳动物视网膜中一种新型的神经节细胞--固有的对光敏感的含有黑素的神经节细胞--的偶联。

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.