Spontaneous activity of morphologically identified ganglion cells in the developing ferret retina

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

8-13-2003

Journal

Journal of Neuroscience

Volume

23

Issue

19

DOI

10.1523/jneurosci.23-19-07343.2003

Keywords

Dual patch-clamp; Ganglion cells; Retina; Retinal development; Spontaneous activity; Synchronous activity

Abstract

Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were made from morphologically identified ganglion cells in the intact retina of developing ferrets. As early as 3 d after birth, all ganglion cells exhibited bursts of spontaneous activity, with the interval between bursts gradually decreasing with maturity. By 2 weeks after birth, ganglion cells could be morphologically differentiated into three major classes (α, β, and γ), and at this time each cell class was characterized by a distinct pattern of spontaneous activity. Dual patch-clamp recordings from pairs of neighboring cells revealed that cells of all morphological classes burst in a coordinated manner, regardless of cell type. These observations suggest that a common mechanism underlies the bursting patterns exhibited by all ganglion cell classes, and that class-specific firing patterns emerge coincident with retinal ganglion cell morphological differentiation.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS