Synapse-specific direction selectivity in retinal bipolar cell axon terminals
Schedule
Monday, November 16, 2020
14:00 UTC
Keisuke Yonehara
Dr
Aarhus University
Host: Sussex Visions
Recording
Open recording
Event Information
Recording
Available
Host
Sussex Visions
Duration
70 minutes
Abstract
The ability to encode the direction of image motion is fundamental to our sense of vision. Direction selectivity along the four cardinal directions is thought to originate in direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs), due to directionally-tuned GABAergic suppression by starburst cells. Here, by utilizing two-photon glutamate imaging to measure synaptic release, we reveal that direction selectivity along all four directions arises earlier than expected, at bipolar cell outputs. Thus, DSGCs receive directionally-aligned glutamatergic inputs from bipolar cell boutons. We further show that this bouton-specific tuning relies on cholinergic excitation and GABAergic inhibition from starburst cells. In this way, starburst cells are able to refine directional tuning in the excitatory visual pathway by modulating the activity of DSGC dendrites and their axonal inputs using two different neurotransmitters.
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