Identification of Synaptic Patterns of NMDA Receptor Subtypes Upon Direction-Selective Rabbit Retinal Ganglion Cells.
The objective of this study was to identify anisotropies that contribute to the directional preference of direction-selective retinal ganglion cells (DS RGCs) in the rabbit retina. We investigated the distributions of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor 1 (NMDAR1), NMDAR2A and NMDAR2B receptor subunits in the dendritic arbors of rabbit DS RGCs.



The distributions of the NMDAR subunits on the DS RGCs were determined using immunocytochemistry. DS RGCs were injected with Lucifer yellow, and the cells were identified by their characteristic morphology. The triple-labeled images of dendrites, kinesin II and NMDARs were visualized using confocal microscopy and were reconstructed from high-resolution confocal images.



We found no evidence of asymmetry in any of the NMDAR subunits examined on the dendritic arbors of both the ON and OFF layers of DS RGCs.



Our results indicate that direction selectivity appears to lie in the neuronal circuitry afferent to the DS RGCs.
a Department of Optometry , Busan Institute of Science and Technology , Busan , South Korea and.|b Department of Biology , School of Life Sciences, BK21 Plus KNU Creative BioResearch Group, College of Natural Sciences, and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University , Daegu , South Korea.
Oh-Ju
OJ
Kwon
b Department of Biology , School of Life Sciences, BK21 Plus KNU Creative BioResearch Group, College of Natural Sciences, and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University , Daegu , South Korea.
Jun-Seok
JS
Lee
b Department of Biology , School of Life Sciences, BK21 Plus KNU Creative BioResearch Group, College of Natural Sciences, and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University , Daegu , South Korea.
Hang-Gu
HG
Kim
b Department of Biology , School of Life Sciences, BK21 Plus KNU Creative BioResearch Group, College of Natural Sciences, and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University , Daegu , South Korea.
Chang-Jin
CJ
Jeon
D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D023421:Models, Animal; D011817:Rabbits; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
Cell injection; NMDA receptor; direction selectivity; immunocytochemistry; retinal ganglion cell