title: Nonlinear Spatiotemporal Integration by Electrical and Chemical Synapses in the Retina.
abstract: Electrical and chemical synapses coexist in circuits throughout the CNS. Yet, it is not well understood how electrical and chemical synaptic transmission interact to determine the functional output of networks endowed with both types of synapse. We found that release of glutamate from bipolar cells onto retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) was strongly shaped by gap-junction-mediated electrical coupling within the bipolar cell network of the mouse retina. Specifically, electrical synapses spread signals laterally between bipolar cells, and this lateral spread contributed to a nonlinear enhancement of bipolar cell output to visual stimuli presented closely in space and time. Our findings thus (1) highlight how electrical and chemical transmission can work in concert to influence network output and (2) reveal a previously unappreciated circuit mechanism that increases RGC sensitivity to spatiotemporally correlated input, such as that produced by motion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Sidney P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: rieke@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rieke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054351:Electrical Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000502:physiology; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018698:Glutamic Acid