title: Distinctive receptive field and physiological properties of a wide-field amacrine cell in the macaque monkey retina.
abstract: At early stages of visual processing, receptive fields are typically described as subtending local regions of space and thus performing computations on a narrow spatial scale. Nevertheless, stimulation well outside of the classical receptive field can exert clear and significant effects on visual processing. Given the distances over which they occur, the retinal mechanisms responsible for these long-range effects would certainly require signal propagation via active membrane properties. Here the physiology of a wide-field amacrine cell-the wiry cell-in macaque monkey retina is explored, revealing receptive fields that represent a striking departure from the classic structure. A single wiry cell integrates signals over wide regions of retina, 5-10 times larger than the classic receptive fields of most retinal ganglion cells. Wiry cells integrate signals over space much more effectively than predicted from passive signal propagation, and spatial integration is strongly attenuated during blockade of NMDA spikes but integration is insensitive to blockade of NaV channels with TTX. Thus these cells appear well suited for contributing to the long-range interactions of visual signals that characterize many aspects of visual perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; manookin@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Manookin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington;
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Puller
authors.affiliation: Physiology and Biophysics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rieke
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington;
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington;
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neitz
mesh_terms: D025042:Amacrine Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008251:Macaca; D008297:Male; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000378:metabolism; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014794:Visual Fields
chemical_list: D015222:Sodium Channels; D016202:N-Methylaspartate
keywords: amacrine cell; dendritic spike; light encoding; physiology