title: The spatial structure of a nonlinear receptive field.
abstract: Understanding a sensory system implies the ability to predict responses to a variety of inputs from a common model. In the retina, this includes predicting how the integration of signals across visual space shapes the outputs of retinal ganglion cells. Existing models of this process generalize poorly to predict responses to new stimuli. This failure arises in part from properties of the ganglion cell response that are not well captured by standard receptive-field mapping techniques: nonlinear spatial integration and fine-scale heterogeneities in spatial sampling. Here we characterize a ganglion cell's spatial receptive field using a mechanistic model based on measurements of the physiological properties and connectivity of only the primary excitatory circuitry of the retina. The resulting simplified circuit model successfully predicts ganglion-cell responses to a variety of spatial patterns and thus provides a direct correspondence between circuit connectivity and retinal output.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Seattle, Washington, USA. gregws@uw.edu
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Haruhisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okawa
authors.forename: Felice A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Josh L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kerschensteiner
authors.forename: Rachel O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rieke
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D000076122:Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein; D051528:Guanylate Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014162:Transfection; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000076122:Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein; C501447:Dlg4 protein, mouse; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051528:Guanylate Kinases