Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Brown, Timothy M.
• Allen, Annette E.
• Wynne, Jonathan
• Paul, David L.
• Piggins, Hugh D.
• Lucas, Robert J.

Titel

Visual responses in the lateral geniculate evoked by Cx36-independent rod pathways

Ist Teil von

• Vision research (Oxford), 2011-01, Vol.51 (2), p.280-287

Ort / Verlag

Kidlington: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• ► Light drives sustained and transient responses throughout the LGN of mice with disrupted cone phototransduction and lacking Cx36 ► Both On and Off responses are retained in this animal ► Cx36-independent rod pathways can support diverse visual responses in the mouse thalamus. Emerging evidence indicates rods can communicate with retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) via pathways that do not involve gap-junctions. Here we investigated the significance of such pathways for central visual responses, using mice lacking a key gap junction protein ( Cx36 −/−) and carrying a mutation that disrupts cone phototransduction ( Gnat2 cpfl3 ). Electrophysiological recordings spanning the lateral geniculate revealed rod-mediated ON and OFF visual responses in virtually every cell from all major anatomical sub-compartments of this nucleus. Hence, we demonstrate that one or more classes of RGC receive input from Cx36-independent rod pathways and drive extensive ON and OFF responses across the visual thalamus.