title: Connectivity map of bipolar cells and photoreceptors in the mouse retina.
abstract: In the mouse retina, three different types of photoreceptors provide input to 14 bipolar cell (BC) types. Classically, most BC types are thought to contact all cones within their dendritic field; ON-BCs would contact cones exclusively via so-called invaginating synapses, while OFF-BCs would form basal synapses. By mining publically available electron microscopy data, we discovered interesting violations of these rules of outer retinal connectivity: ON-BC type X contacted only ~20% of the cones in its dendritic field and made mostly atypical non-invaginating contacts. Types 5T, 5O and 8 also contacted fewer cones than expected. In addition, we found that rod BCs received input from cones, providing anatomical evidence that rod and cone pathways are interconnected in both directions. This suggests that the organization of the outer plexiform layer is more complex than classically thought.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Behrens
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Timm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haverkamp
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4567-6966
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Euler
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0199-4727
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology*; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000648:ultrastructure
keywords: bipolar cell; computational biology; connectivity; connectomics; mouse; neural circuit; neuroscience; photoreceptor; retina; systems biology