Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) exhibit adaptive changes in response to sustained light stimulation,
which include decrease in firing rate, tendency to shrink in receptive field (RF) size and reduction in synchronized
activities. Gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) pathway is an important inhibitory pathway in retina.
In the present study, the effects of GABAergic pathway on the contrast adaptation process of bullfrog RGCs
were studied using multi-electrode recording technique. It was found that the application of bicuculline (BIC), a
gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptor antagonist, caused a number of changes in the RGCs’ response
characteristics, including attenuation in adaptation-dependent firing rate decrease and the adaptation-dependent
weakening in synchronized activities between adjacent neuron-pairs, whereas intensified the adaptation-dependent
RF size shrinkage. These results suggest that GABAA receptors are involved in the modulation of the firing
activity and synchronized activities in contrast adaptation process of the RGCs, whereas the adaptation-related
RF property changes involve more complicated mechanisms.
FENG Xin-yang (冯新阳), XIAO Lei (肖雷), GONG Hai-qing (龚海庆), ZHANG Pu-ming (张溥明), LIANG Pei-ji* (梁培基)
. Influence of GABAergic Pathway on Retinal Adaptation-Related Response Changes[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University(Science), 2014
, 19(5)
: 592
-599
.
DOI: 10.1007/s12204-014-1547-x
[1] Kohn A. Visual adaptation: Physiology, mechanisms,and functional benefits [J]. Journal of Neurophysiology,2007, 97(5): 3155-3164.
[2] Li H, Liu W Z, Liang P J. Adaptation-dependent synchronous activity contributes to receptive field size change of bullfrog retinal ganglion cell [J]. PLoS One,2012, 7(3): e34336.
[3] Xiao L, Zhang M, Xing D, et al. Shifted encoding strategy in retinal luminance adaptation: From firing rate to neural correlation [J]. Journal of Neurophysiology,2013, 110(8): 1793-1803.
[4] Li Yao, Li Hao, Gong Hai-qing, et al. Characteristics of receptive field encoded by synchronized firing pattern of ganglion cell group [J]. Acta Biophysica Sinica,2011, 27(3): 211-221 (in Chinese).
[5] Kastner D B, Baccus S A. Spatial segregation of adaptation and predictive sensitization in retinal ganglion cells [J]. Neuron, 2013, 79(3): 541-554.
[6] Jing W, Liu W Z, Gong X W, et al. Influence of GABAergic inhibition on concerted activity between the ganglion cells [J]. Neuro Report, 2010, 21(12): 797-801.
[7] Yang X L. Characterization of receptors for glutamate and GABA in retinal neurons [J]. Progress in Neurobiology,2004, 73(2): 127-150.
[8] Stirling R V, Merrill E G. Functional morphology of frog retinal ganglion cells and their central projections:The dimming detectors [J]. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1987, 258(4): 477-495.
[9] Brivanlou I H, Warland D K, Meister M. Mechanisms of concerted firing among retinal ganglion cells[J]. Neuron, 1998, 20(3): 527-539.
[10] Bloomfield S A, V¨olgyi B. The diverse functional roles and regulation of neuronal gap junctions in the retina [J]. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009, 10(7):495-506.
[11] Gustincich S, Feigenspan A, Sieghart W, et al. Composition of the GABAA receptors of retinal dopaminergic neurons [J]. The Journal of Neuroscience,1999, 19(18): 7812-7822.
