title: Signals and noise in an inhibitory interneuron diverge to control activity in nearby retinal ganglion cells.
abstract: Information about sensory stimuli is represented by spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity. The complexity of the central nervous system, however, frequently obscures the origin and properties of signals and noise that underlie these activity patterns. We minimized this constraint by examining mechanisms governing correlated activity in mouse retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) under conditions in which light-evoked responses traverse a specific circuit, the rod bipolar pathway. Signals and noise in this circuit produced correlated synaptic input to neighboring On and Off RGCs. Temporal modulation of light intensity did not alter the degree to which noise in the input to nearby RGCs was correlated, and action potential generation in individual RGCs was largely insensitive to differences in network noise generated by dynamic and static light stimuli. Together, these features enable noise in shared circuitry to diminish simultaneous action potential generation in neighboring On and Off RGCs under a variety of conditions.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7290, USA. gjmurphy@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Gabe J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rieke
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D025042:Amacrine Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology*; D008027:Light; D008029:Lighting; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000502:physiology; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology