Modulation of rod-cone coupling by light

Although electrical coupling between rods and cones in the retina has been assumed to be static, it has now been shown that rod-cone coupling can be strengthened by light. Increment threshold measurements reveal that cone input to rods increases progressively as background light becomes brighter. Current injection into cones produces larger responses in adjacent rods in the presence of background light than in darkness. Weak coupling under dark-adapted conditions facilitates synaptic transmission of small rod signals, and strong coupling under light-adapted conditions enhances transmission of large cone signals.     

Iconic storage: the role of rods

The hypothesis that rods mediate iconic storage was tested by presenting letters of one color against a field of another. The colors were chosen to be discriminable only by the cones, only by the rods, or both. Under dark adaptation, the rods had little if any effect on partial-report advantage; however, they were important in determining the phenomenal persistence of the stimulus. Under light adaptation, the rods played no apparent role in either type of persistence.     

Synchronous bursts of action potentials in ganglion cells of the developing mammalian retina

The development of orderly connections in the mammalian visual system depends on action potentials in the optic nerve fibers, even before the retina receives visual input. In particular, it has been suggested that correlated firing of retinal ganglion cells in the same eye directs the segregation of their synaptic terminals into eye-specific layers within the lateral geniculate nucleus. Such correlations in electrical activity were found by simultaneous recording of the extracellular action potentials of up to 100 ganglion cells in the isolated retina of the newborn ferret and the fetal cat. These neurons fired spikes in nearly synchronous bursts lasting a few seconds and separated by 1 to 2 minutes of silence. Individual bursts consisted of a wave of excitation, several hundred micrometers wide, sweeping across the retina at about 100 micrometers per second. These concerted firing patterns have the appropriate spatial and temporal properties to guide the refinement of connections between the retina and the lateral geniculate nucleus.     

Visual and nonvisual auditory systems in mammals. Anatomical evidence indicates two kinds of auditory pathways and suggests two kinds of hearing in mammals

Examination of the structural organization of the auditory system of the brain stem shows that the system is composed of a number of separate ascending pathways. This suggests that there may be at least two auditory systems, analogous to the rod and cone pathways in vision. We examined this possibility by investigating the variation in relative size of the medial and lateral superior olivary nuclei in a number of different mammalian species. The lateral superior olive is present in the hedgehog (an insectivore), cat (acarnivore), and squirrel monkey a(primate), but the medial superior olive is absent in the hedgehog. In a group of animals of the same taxonomic order (rodents) the lateral superior olive was present in all species examined, but the medial superior olive was almost wholly absent in the mouse and very prominent in the chinchilla and guinea pig. The absence of the medial superior olive in some animals is surprising because recent anatomical and physiological work has implicated the nucleus in auditory localization. Because of this implication, the medial and lateral olivary nuclei were examined in three species of bat and one dolphin, all echolocating animals. The medial superior olive was absent in these animals, and the lateral superior olive was prominent. These observations support the idea that the medial and lateral superior olives are nuclei on two different ascending auditory systems. It was also noted that the medial superior olive was always well developed in animals with well-developed eyes, and this suggested that the nucleus is in some way related to the visual system. We examined this idea by studying the relation between the numbers of cells in the medial superior olive and in the nucleus of the 6th cranial nerve (one of the motor nuclei concerned with eye movement) in a number of mammalian species. An approximately linear function was found between the sizes of the 6th nucleus and of the medial superior olive in three primates with cone-cell retinas (squirrel monkey, man, and macaque) and four rodents with rod-cell retinas (mouse, rat, guinea pig, and chinchilla). The cell numbers for the ground squirrel (a rodent with cone-cell retina) fitted an extension of the primate curve, and the cell numbers for the cat (in whose retina rods predominate) fitted an extension of the rodent curve. Thus, it is clear that the medial superior olive is related to the visual system, and that it is present in animals with cone-cell fovea and retina (diurnalanimals) and animals with rod-cell retina (that is, nocturnal animals) having good vision. In nonvisual nocturnal animals the nucleus is small or absent. The medial superior olive is probably not concerned with auditory localization in the psychophysical sense but is probably concerned with the movement of head and eyes in the direction of a sound in space. Localization in the psychophysical sense and fine auditory discrimination probably depend upon the ascending pathway which includes the lateral superior olive.     

Dark adaptation: an interocular light-adaptation effect

Presentation of iight to the left eye simultaneously with adaptation of the right eye to light may accelerate dark adaptation in the right eye. The result is that the rod-cone-break and the final threshold of the rods are achieved earlier than when the right eye alone is adapted to light.     

Goldfish retina: sign of the rod input in opponent color ganglion cells

After light adaptation, all "on-center" ganglion cells in the dark became "red on-center," and all "off-center" cells turned into "red off-center" cells. On a chance basis, this similitude of effect between the rods and the red cones in opponent color cells was not expected. These findings indicate that in the goldfish there is some similarity between the connections of the rods and of the long-wavelength cones.     

The ultraviolet receptor of bird retinas

The eyes of 15 species of birds from 10 families have some cones maximally sensitive at 370 nanometers in the near-ultraviolet. Spectral sensitivity was measured by recording extracellularly in opened eyecups , and a maximum in the ultraviolet was revealed by selectively adapting the retina with yellow background lights. The 370-nanometer spectral sensitivity function is attributed to receptors because its spectral position does not vary with the strength of adaptation and because it is present when the receptor potentials are isolated from the contributions of higher order retinal neurons by exposing the retina to sodium aspartate. These measurements demonstrate the basis for the ultraviolet sensitivity of birds that has been seen in behavioral experiments, and they provide further evidence that many vertebrates share with insects vision in the near-ultraviolet.     

Responses of retinal ganglion cells to exponentially increasing light stimuli

Action potentials of ganglion cells were recorded extracellularly from opened cat eyes. It was found that inhibition, as judged by discharge frequency, may depend upon rate of change of light intensity. Apparently the balance between excitatory and inhibitory inputs at the ganglion cell level depends upon rate of change of illumination. Visual purple bleaching or sensory adaptation taking place during the stimulation does not explain the results.     

Diet drives convergence in gut microbiome functions across mammalian phylogeny and within humans

Coevolution of mammals and their gut microbiota has profoundly affected their radiation into myriad habitats. We used shotgun sequencing of microbial community DNA and targeted sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA genes to gain an understanding of how microbial communities adapt to extremes of diet. We sampled fecal DNA from 33 mammalian species and 18 humans who kept detailed diet records, and we found that the adaptation of the microbiota to diet is similar across different mammalian lineages. Functional repertoires of microbiome genes, such as those encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes and proteases, can be predicted from bacterial species assemblages. These results illustrate the value of characterizing vertebrate gut microbiomes to understand host evolutionary histories at a supraorganismal level.     

鳜仔鱼视网膜及口腔齿的发育对摄食的适应

采用石蜡切片及HE染色的方法对鳜受精卵及1～30 d仔鱼的视网膜结构和视觉特性进行研究,结果表明:(1)受精后54 h晶状体形成,视网膜还未分化;80 h视网膜分化为外核层、内核层、内网层和神经节细胞层4层结构;98 h形成色素上皮层、视杆视锥层和神经纤维层;124 h外网层形成,视网膜10层结构发育完全。孵化后4 d开始出现少量颌齿和咽齿;5 d和14 d分别观察到腭齿和犁齿;15d时鳃耙形成但形状较小。口腔齿的数量随着仔鱼个体的生长而增加至近于成体。(2)鳜内核层分化成一层水平细胞、数层双极细胞和无长突细胞,属光感受系统不发达的类型。(3)鳜仔鱼在消化系统尚未发育完全时已经开始形成口腔齿,为提高捕食的成功率提供了基础条件,充分表现了个体发育在进化过程中与生存环境相适应的特点。(4)鳜神经节细胞层细胞随个体的生长发育而减少,孵化后29 d,体长18.36 mm时,只有一层神经节细胞,说明此时的仔鱼已适应黑暗环境生活。鳜视觉结构的变化与其从浮游到底层的生态迁移及捕食方式的变化相适应。研究亮点:从组织学研究角度对鳜仔鱼视网膜发育进行了探讨,详细研究了视网膜各组成结构的发育特征,并结合鳜仔鱼齿的发育特征,分析了其对摄食行为的适应,首次解释了伴随着视网膜发育而形成的由浮游生活到底层生活的适应,研究结果以期为鳜在种苗生产过程中正确选择开口饵料和早期动物性饵料,以降低种苗的死亡率等提供理论依据。     

Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock

Light synchronizes mammalian circadian rhythms with environmental time by modulating retinal input to the circadian pacemaker-the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Such photic entrainment requires neither rods nor cones, the only known retinal photoreceptors. Here, we show that retinal ganglion cells innervating the SCN are intrinsically photosensitive. Unlike other ganglion cells, they depolarized in response to light even when all synaptic input from rods and cones was blocked. The sensitivity, spectral tuning, and slow kinetics of this light response matched those of the photic entrainment mechanism, suggesting that these ganglion cells may be the primary photoreceptors for this system.     

Direct excitatory interactions between cones of different spectral types in the turtle retina

Cone linear sensitivities to red and green stimuli were measured intracellularly in the dark- and light-adapted turtle retina. Test flashes of small diameter were used to minimize horizontal cell feedback. Light adaptation was achieved with either green or red background illumination. The ratio of cone sensitivities to red and green light depended on the color of the background light and differed from the ratio measured in the dark. Electron microscope studies of Golgi-stained turtle cones revealed direct synaptic connections between red and green cones mediated by cone telodendria. These data indicate that the red cone photoresponse is not univariant as has been previously supposed and suggest that mixing of signals from different spectral classes of cones can occur via direct excitatory connections between cones.     

动物温度域的初步探究

在漫长的生物进化中,生物适应性与环境达到高度一致。在各种影响生物生存的环境因素中,温度是非常重要的一个,它影响着生物的开花结果,迁徙洄游,物种分布等。而温度也并非永恒不变。四季更迭,冷热变换,生物对温度的适应是怎样变化的呢?不同的生物对不同季节的温度都有一个特定的适应范围,我们把这个对温度的适应范围叫做温度适应域,或者温度域。四季更迭温度变迁,温度域也随之变换。     

Detection of alpha-transducin in retinal rods but not cones

The distribution in chicken retina of the alpha subunit of transducin, the guanine nucleotide--binding protein that couples light-dependent activation of rhodopsin with activation of guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate phosphodiesterase, was determined with the aid of a specific antiserum. alpha-Transducin was found in rod photoreceptor cells but was not detected in cones. These results show that rods and cones differ with respect to alpha-transducin content and suggest that the processes of phototransduction may differ correspondingly in rods and cones.     

Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice

In the mammalian retina, a small subset of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are intrinsically photosensitive, express the opsin-like protein melanopsin, and project to brain nuclei involved in non-image-forming visual functions such as pupillary light reflex and circadian photoentrainment. We report that in mice with the melanopsin gene ablated, RGCs retrograde-labeled from the suprachiasmatic nuclei were no longer intrinsically photosensitive, although their number, morphology, and projections were unchanged. These animals showed a pupillary light reflex indistinguishable from that of the wild type at low irradiances, but at high irradiances the reflex was incomplete, a pattern that suggests that the melanopsin-associated system and the classical rod/cone system are complementary in function.     

Afterimage of perceptually filled-in surface

An afterimage induced by prior adaptation to a visual stimulus is believed to be due to bleaching of photochemical pigments or neural adaptation in the retina. We report a type of afterimage that appears to require cortical adaptation. Fixating a neon-color spreading configuration led not only to negative afterimages corresponding to the inducers (local afterimages), but also to one corresponding to the perceptually filled-in surface during adaptation (global afterimage). These afterimages were mutually exclusive, undergoing monocular rivalry. The strength of the global afterimage correlated to a greater extent with perceptual filling-in during adaptation than with the strength of the local afterimages. Thus, global afterimages are not merely by-products of local afterimages, but involve adaptation at a cortical representation of surface.     

Midbrain single units correlating with pupil response to light

The consensual response of the pupil in the cat was driven by means of a light flux impinging on the contralateral retina. Spike trains recorded extracellularly from single units in the midbrain show correlation with the concurrently recorded pupil area. The temporal dynamics found confirm two earlier studies of sinigle-unit responses and quantitative nerve stimulation. Both of these indicate that most of the 200-millisecond transport delay resides in the neuromuscular apparatus. Neurons whose activity correlated either with constriction with dilatation phases of Change in the pupil area were observed.     

Formation of retinal ganglion cell topography during prenatal development

A fundamental feature of the mammalian visual system is the nonuniform distribution of ganglion cells across the retinal surface. To understand the ontogenetic processes leading to the formation of retinal ganglion cell topography, changes in the regional density of these neurons were studied in relation to ganglion cell loss and the pattern of retinal growth in the fetal cat. Midway through the gestation period, the density of these neurons was only two to three times greater in the area centralis than in the peripheral retina, whereas shortly before birth this central-to-peripheral difference was nearly 20-fold. Age-related changes in the ganglion cell distribution were found not to correspond in time or magnitude to the massive loss of ganglion cells that occurs during prenatal development. Rather, the formation of ganglion cell density gradients can be accounted for by unequal expansion of the growing fetal retina-peripheral regions expand more than the central region, thereby diluting the peripheral density of ganglion cells to a greater degree. Nonuniform growth, in conjunction with differential periods of neurogenesis of the different types of retinal cells, appears to be a dominant factor regulating overall retinal topography. These results suggest that the differential regional expansion of the fetal retina underlies the formation of magnification factors in the developing visual system.     

大学生村官基层社会适应性研究

针对大学生村官在工作的介入程度、人际关系、生活方式和心理方面存在的转型与适应问题,从农村的工作、学习与生活的角度探究其不同阶段的工作适应程度及特点,以期为大学生村官适应农村生活、村官工作及其自身价值提升提供参考,进一步发挥大学生村官在社会主义新农村建设中的积极作用。     

Shadows cast by retinal blood vessels mapped in primary visual cortex

The mammalian eye is a remarkable optical device, but its design is not perfect. The blood vessels that supply the inner retina are located in front of the photoreceptor layer, blocking access to light. Their shadows create a pattern of blindness in the field of vision that corresponds precisely to the location of the largest vessels in the eye. We show here that in squirrel monkeys, focal deprivation by blood vessels leads to rewiring of the eye's geniculocortical projections, imprinting an image of the retinal vascular tree onto the primary visual cortex. This process illustrates vividly that local imbalances in neuronal activity can influence column formation during normal development.