ePoster

Functional and morphological characterization of zebrafish retinal ganglion cell subtypes expressing the transcription factor Satb2

Ayjan Urazbayeva, Fumi Kubo
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Ayjan Urazbayeva, Fumi Kubo

Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) transmit visual information from the retina to the brain and are conserved among vertebrates. In zebrafish, RGCs project their axons to downstream brain areas known as arborization fields (AFs). Previous anatomical studies have demonstrated that each RGC axon targets one or a few of AF1-9 and 10 distinct layers of AF10 (optic tectum). Although it was proposed that each projection type represents one functional type, the correspondence between morphology and function of genetically defined RGC subtypes is still unclear. To address this question, we focused on RGC subtype expressing transcription factor Satb2 and generated CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in zebrafish. Consequently, we found that Tg(Satb2:Gal4) stable transgenic line labels RGCs, whose axons target 3 distinct layers of optic tectum and AF7. We recorded visual responses of Satb2 positive RGC axons to a presentation of a battery of visual stimuli using in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging. Pixel- wise analysis revealed that Satb2-expressing RGCs responded to different combinations of multiple visual stimuli. Clustering analysis yielded 3 major functional clusters, which were consistently observed across larval development. Interestingly, these different functional responses were represented not only across the different layers of optic tectum, but also within a single tectal layer, which consisted of a single projection type. Thus, our results suggest that RGCs belonging to the same morphological type can consist of more than one functional response.

Unique ID: fens-24/functional-morphological-characterization-a1370a0e