title: Gap junctional coupling underlies the short-latency spike synchrony of retinal alpha ganglion cells.
abstract: We examined whether coupling between neighboringalpha-type ganglion cells (alpha-GCs) in the rabbit retina underlies their synchronous spike activity. Simultaneous recordings were made from arrays of alpha-GCs to determine the synchrony of both spontaneous and light-evoked spike activity. One cell within each array was then injected with the biotinylated tracer Neurobiotin to determine which of the cells were coupled via gap junctions. Cross-correlation analyses indicated that neighboring off-center alpha-GCs maintain short-latency (approximately 2.5 msec) synchronous spiking, whereas the spontaneous spike activities of on-centeralpha-GC neighbors are not correlated. Without exception, those off-centeralpha-GCs showing synchronous spiking were found to be tracer coupled to both amacrine cells and neighboring off-centeralpha-GCs. In contrast, on-center alpha-GCs were never tracer coupled. Furthermore, whereas spikes initiated in an off-center alpha-GC with extrinsic current injection resulted in short-latency synchronized spiking in neighboring off-center alpha-GCs, this was never seen between on-center alpha-GCs. These results indicate that electrical coupling via gap junctions underlies the short-latency concerted spike activity of neighboring alpha-GCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 1001, USA.
authors.forename: Edward H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Stewart A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001710:Biotin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011817:Rabbits; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C070614:neurobiotin; D001710:Biotin