Spontaneous impulse activity of rat retinal ganglion cells in prenatal life

The existence of spontaneous neural activity in mammalian retinal ganglion cells during prenatal life has long been suspected. This activity could play a key role in the refinement of retinal projections during development. Recordings in vivo from the retinas of rat fetuses between embryonic day 17 and 21 found action potentials in spontaneously active ganglion cells at all the ages studied.     

Conduction velocity variations minimize conduction time differences among retinal ganglion cell axons

The visual system is able to accurately represent the spatiotemporal relations among the elements of a changing visual scene as the image moves across the retinal surface. This precise spatiotemporal mapping occurs despite great variability in retinal position and conduction velocity even among retinal ganglion cells of the same physiological class-a variability that would seem to reduce the precision with which spatiotemporal information can be transmitted to central visual areas. There was a strong negative relation between the intraretinal and extraretinal conduction time for axons of individual ganglion cells of the X-cell class. The effect of this relation was to produce a nearly constant total transmission time between the soma of a retinal X cell and its central target site. Thus, the variation in the conduction velocities of retinal ganglion cell axons may ensure that, regardless of the constraints imposed by retinal topography, a precise spatiotemporal central representation of the retinal image is maintained.     

Hyperacuity in cat retinal ganglion cells

Cat X retinal ganglion cells that can resolve sine gratings of only 2.5 cycles per degree can nevertheless respond reliably to displacements of a grating of approximately 1 minute of arc. This is a form of hyperacuity comparable in magnitude to that seen in human vision. A theoretical analysis of this form of hyperacuity reveals it to be a result of the high gain and low noise of ganglion cells. The hyperacuity expected for the best retinal ganglion cells is substantially better than that observed in behavioral experiments. Thus the brain, rather than improving on the retinal signal-to-noise ratio by pooling signals from many ganglion cells, is unable to make use of all the hyperacuity information present in single ganglion cell responses.     

Dendritic computation of direction selectivity by retinal ganglion cells

Direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs) in the retina respond strongly when stimulated by image motion in a preferred direction but are only weakly excited by image motion in the opposite null direction. Such coding represents an early manifestation of complex information processing in the visual system, but the cellular locus and the synaptic mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. We recorded the synaptic activity of DSGCs using strategies to observe the asymmetric inhibitory inputs that underlie the generation of direction selectivity. The critical nonlinear interactions between the excitatory and inhibitory inputs took place postsynaptically within the dendrites of the DSGCs.     

Synapses onto different morphological types of retinal ganglion cells

The percentage of bipolar and amacrine synapses onto ganglion cell dendrites of the ground squirrel has been determined by electron microscopy of cells impregnated by the Golgi method. One group of ganglion cells has mainly amacrine input (approximately 97 percent); the other group has an approximately equal bipolar and amacrine input. Morphologically distinct types of ganglion cells usually have a consistent synaptic input, but exceptions may exist.     

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.     

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.     

Amacrine-signaled loss of intrinsic axon growth ability by retinal ganglion cells

The central nervous system (CNS) loses the ability to regenerate early during development, but it is not known why. The retina has long served as a simple model system for study of CNS regeneration. Here we show that amacrine cells signal neonatal rat retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to undergo a profound and apparently irreversible loss of intrinsic axon growth ability. Concurrently, retinal maturation triggers RGCs to greatly increase their dendritic growth ability. These results suggest that adult CNS neurons fail to regenerate not only because of CNS glial inhibition but also because of a loss of intrinsic axon growth ability.     

Electrical responses of the retinal nerve and optic ganglion of the squid

Recordings were obtained from the retinal nerves and optic ganglia of intact squid, which were maintained in good condition by perfusing their mantles with sea water. Only "on" discharges were found in the nerves, whereas "on" and "off" discharges as well as spontaneous activity and tactile responses were obtained from the ganglia.     

鳜视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层的发育

为研究鳜Siniperca chuatsi视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层结构变化,利用组织切片、免疫荧光技术与几何构型分析对鳜视觉转变期3个阶段(出膜后第28、42、63天,记为D_(28)、D_(42)和D_(63))视网膜中感光细胞数量增长方式和视锥细胞排布进行了研究。结果表明:鳜视觉转变期视网膜各区域视杆细胞数量显著增加,D_(63)时期已达4 500～6 000 cells/100μm²;单锥细胞(SC)数量上升缓慢,D_(28)时期为20～40 cells/100μm2;单锥细胞(SC)数量上升缓慢,D_(28)时期为20～40 cells/100μm²,而D_(63)时为5～8 cells/100μm2,而D_(63)时为5～8 cells/100μm²,同时双锥细胞(DC)数量增长速度明显快于单锥细胞,D_(28)时期为70～100 cells/100μm2,同时双锥细胞(DC)数量增长速度明显快于单锥细胞,D_(28)时期为70～100 cells/100μm²,而D_(63)时期为100～150 cells/100μm2,而D_(63)时期为100～150 cells/100μm²,视锥细胞中双锥细胞比例显著上升,D_(63)时期DC/SC已接近50;视锥细胞在视网膜腹侧的增长均快于背侧,而增长的视杆细胞未影响视锥细胞排布的构建。研究表明,鳜视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层在结构上发生了剧烈变化,视杆细胞在视网膜各区域均匀增长,视锥细胞腹侧增长速度明显快于背侧,鳜感光细胞发育特点为其底栖暗光生活的视觉转变提供了结构基础。     

鳜视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层的发育

为研究鳜Siniperca chuatsi视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层结构变化,利用组织切片、免疫荧光技术与几何构型分析对鳜视觉转变期3个阶段(出膜后第28、42、63天,记为D_(28)、D_(42)和D_(63))视网膜中感光细胞数量增长方式和视锥细胞排布进行了研究。结果表明:鳜视觉转变期视网膜各区域视杆细胞数量显著增加,D_(63)时期已达4 500～6 000 cells/100μm~2;单锥细胞(SC)数量上升缓慢,D_(28)时期为20～40 cells/100μm~2,而D_(63)时为5～8 cells/100μm~2,同时双锥细胞(DC)数量增长速度明显快于单锥细胞,D_(28)时期为70～100 cells/100μm~2,而D_(63)时期为100～150 cells/100μm~2,视锥细胞中双锥细胞比例显著上升,D_(63)时期DC/SC已接近50;视锥细胞在视网膜腹侧的增长均快于背侧,而增长的视杆细胞未影响视锥细胞排布的构建。研究表明,鳜视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层在结构上发生了剧烈变化,视杆细胞在视网膜各区域均匀增长,视锥细胞腹侧增长速度明显快于背侧,鳜感光细胞发育特点为其底栖暗光生活的视觉转变提供了结构基础。     

鳜视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层的发育

为研究鳜Siniperca chuatsi视觉转变期视网膜感光细胞层结构变化,利用组织切片、免疫荧光技术与几何构型分析对鳜视觉转变期3个阶段(出膜后第28、42、63天,记为D28、D42和D63)视网膜中感光细胞数量增长方式和视锥细胞排布进行了研究.结果表明:鳜视觉转变期视网膜各区域视杆细胞数量显著增加,D63时期已...     

Nicotinic antagonists enhance process outgrowth by rat retinal ganglion cells in culture

Functional nicotinic cholinergic receptors are found on mammalian retinal ganglion cell neurons in culture. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) can be detected in the medium of many of these retinal cultures, after release presumably from the choline acetyltransferase-positive amacrine cells. The postsynaptic effect of endogenous or applied ACh on the ganglion cells can be blocked with specific nicotinic antagonists. Here it is shown that within 24 hours of producing such a pharmacologic blockade, the retinal ganglion cells begin to sprout or regenerate neuronal processes. Thus, the growth-enhancing effect of nicotinic antagonists may be due to the removal of inhibition to growth by tonic levels of ACh present in the culture medium. Since there is a spontaneous leak of ACh in the intact retina, the effects of nicotinic cholinergic drugs on process outgrowth in culture may reflect a normal control mechanism for growth or regeneration of retinal ganglion cell processes that is exerted by ACh in vivo.     

Melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells: architecture, projections, and intrinsic photosensitivity

The primary circadian pacemaker, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the mammalian brain, is photoentrained by light signals from the eyes through the retinohypothalamic tract. Retinal rod and cone cells are not required for photoentrainment. Recent evidence suggests that the entraining photoreceptors are retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that project to the SCN. The visual pigment for this photoreceptor may be melanopsin, an opsin-like protein whose coding messenger RNA is found in a subset of mammalian RGCs. By cloning rat melanopsin and generating specific antibodies, we show that melanopsin is present in cell bodies, dendrites, and proximal axonal segments of a subset of rat RGCs. In mice heterozygous for tau-lacZ targeted to the melanopsin gene locus, beta-galactosidase-positive RGC axons projected to the SCN and other brain nuclei involved in circadian photoentrainment or the pupillary light reflex. Rat RGCs that exhibited intrinsic photosensitivity invariably expressed melanopsin. Hence, melanopsin is most likely the visual pigment of phototransducing RGCs that set the circadian clock and initiate other non-image-forming visual functions.     

Thymic requirement for clonal deletion during T cell development

During T cell differentiation, self tolerance is established in part by the deletion of self-reactive T cells within the thymus (negative selection). The presence of T cell receptor (TCR)-alpha beta + T cells in older athymic (nu/nu) mice indicates that some T cells can also mature without thymic influence. Therefore, to determine whether the thymus is required for negative selection, TCR V beta expression was compared in athymic nu/nu mice and their congenic normal littermates. T cells expressing V beta 3 proteins are specific for minor lymphocyte stimulatory (Mlsc) determinants and are deleted intrathymically due to self tolerance in Mlsc+ mouse strains. Here it is shown that V beta 3+ T cells are deleted in Mlsc+ BALB/c nu/+ mice, but not in their BALB/c nu/nu littermates. Thus, the thymus is required for clonal deletion during T cell development.     

大豆子叶发育过程中显微结构变化

大豆种子发育过程中,子叶贮藏细胞大量合成和积累贮藏物质,在光镜和电镜下观察了贮藏物质的积累过程。结果表明,在子叶发育过程中,淀粉粒在花后45d以后逐渐减少。花后60d时,子叶细胞中仅有少量淀粉粒存在。淀粉粒的减少可能与脂类和蛋白质的合成有关。蛋白体在子叶发育过程中逐渐增多,花后45～60d数量增加较快。脂体在花后25～45d数量增幅大。起初脂体分布在细胞壁附近。花后60d时,脂体在蛋白体的表面呈镶嵌状分布。     

山羊胚胎脊髓灰质的发育

对山羊胚胎脊髓灰质形成和发育的形态学变化进行了系统研究。结果表明 :山羊脊髓神经管闭合以后 ,其组织发生持续近 2 0 d才形成完整的 3层同心圆结构 ;山羊脊髓神经管的组织发生和脊髓灰质的形成在时间上有很大程度的重叠性 ;脊髓灰质各结构形成和发育的规律也不完全一致 ,有些结构发生早 ,而神经元分化较晚 ,如侧角、胶状质 ;有些结构发生虽然晚 ,但其中的神经元胞体分化和发育则较早 ,如 Clarke氏背核 ;有些结构发生早 ,神经元发育也早 ,如腹角运动神经元。