Inhibition decorrelates visual feature representations in the inner retina.
The retina extracts visual features for transmission to the brain. Different types of bipolar cell split the photoreceptor input into parallel channels and provide the excitatory drive for downstream visual circuits. Mouse bipolar cell types have been described at great anatomical and genetic detail, but a similarly deep understanding of their functional diversity is lacking. Here, by imaging light-driven glutamate release from more than 13,000 bipolar cell axon terminals in the intact retina, we show that bipolar cell functional diversity is generated by the interplay of dendritic excitatory inputs and axonal inhibitory inputs. The resulting centre and surround components of bipolar cell receptive fields interact to decorrelate bipolar cell output in the spatial and temporal domains. Our findings highlight the importance of inhibitory circuits in generating functionally diverse excitatory pathways and suggest that decorrelation of parallel visual pathways begins as early as the second synapse of the mouse visual system.
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Graduate School of Neural &Behavioural Sciences, International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Katrin
K
Franke
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Philipp
P
Berens
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Timm
T
Schubert
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
Matthias
M
Bethge
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Thomas
T
Euler
Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Tom
T
Baden
D025042:Amacrine Cells / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005998:Glycine / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D013997:Time Factors; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D005998:Glycine