Abstract
Retinal ribbon synapses undergo functional changes after eye opening that remain uncharacterized. Using light-flash stimulation and paired patch-clamp recordings, we examined the maturation of the ribbon synapse between rod bipolar cells (RBCs) and AII-amacrine cells (AII-ACs) after eye opening (postnatal day 14) in the mouse retina at near physiological temperatures. We find that light-evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) in AII-ACs exhibit a slow sustained component that increases in magnitude with advancing age, whereas a fast transient component remains unchanged. Similarly, paired recordings reveal a dual-component EPSC with a slower sustained component that increases during development, even though the miniature EPSC (mEPSC) amplitude and kinetics do not change significantly. We thus propose that the readily releasable pool of vesicles from RBCs increases after eye opening, and we estimate that a short light flash can evoke the release of ∼4,000 vesicles onto a single mature AII-AC.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 113440 |
Journal | Cell Reports |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 28 2023 |
Keywords
- AMPA receptor desensitization
- CP: Neuroscience
- Developmental biology
- aII amacrine cell
- excitatory postsynaptic response
- night vision
- quantal analysis
- retinal circuits
- ribbon synapse
- rod bipolar cell
- synaptic transmission
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology