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Synaptic inputs to retrogradely labeled ganglion cells in the retina of the cane toad, Bufo marinus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Bao-Song Zhu  and
Ian L. Gibbins
Bao-Song Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Histology and Center for Neuroscience, School of Medicine, The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Ian L. Gibbins
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Histology and Center for Neuroscience, School of Medicine, The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
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Abstract

The entire population of ganglion cells in the retina of the toad Bufo marinus was labeled by retrograde transport of a lysine-fixable biotinylated dextran amine of 3000 molecular weight. Synaptic connections between bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells in the inner plexiform layer were quantitatively analyzed, with emphasis on synaptic inputs to labeled ganglion cell dendrites. Synapses onto ganglion cell dendrites comprised 47% of a total of 1234 identified synapses in the inner plexiform layer. Approximately half of the bipolar or amacrine cell synapses were directed onto ganglion cell dendrites, while the rest were made mainly onto amacrine cell dendrites. Most of the synaptic inputs to ganglion cell dendrites derived from amacrine cell dendrites (84%), with the rest from bipolar cell terminals. Synaptic inputs to ganglion cell dendrites were distributed relatively uniformly throughout all sublaminae of the inner plexiform layer. The present study provides unambiguous identification of ganglion cell dendrites including very fine processes, enabling a detailed analysis of the types and distribution of synaptic inputs from the bipolar and amacrine cell to the ganglion cells. The retrograde tracing technique used in the present study will prove to be a useful tool for identifying synaptic inputs to ganglion cell dendrites from neurochemically identified bipolar and amacrine cell types in the retina.

Keywords

Retrograde transportUltrastructureGanglion cellsInner plexiform layerRetina
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 14 , Issue 6 , November 1997 , pp. 1089 - 1096
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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