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1 March 2003 Morphological and Functional Organization of ON and OFF Pathways in the Adult Newt Retina
Yumiko Umino, Miyuki Niino, Takehiko Saito
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Abstract

Morphological and functional organization of ON and OFF pathways in the adult newt retina were examined by intracellular recording and staining techniques and immunohistochemistry. Synaptotagmin immunoreactivity discriminated three broad bands within the IPL: the distal band (sublamina I), the middle band (sublamina II) consisting of two dense punctate bands (sublaminae IIa and IIb), and proximal band (sublamina III). The Lucifer-yellow labeled OFF amacrine and ganglion cells send their processes mainly in sublamina I and/or IIa where OFF bipolar cells extend their axon terminals, while ON amacrine and ganglion cells send their processes in sublamina III and/or IIb where ON bipolar cells extend their axon terminals. Processes of ON-OFF amacrine and ganglion cells ramify broadly in the whole thickness of the IPL. Many bipolar cells responded to light spot with a transient hyperpolarization at both light onset and offset. They are probably subtypes of ON bipolar cells, because their axon terminals branch mainly in sublaminae III and/or IIb, although a few cells ramified the axon at both sublaminae IIa and III. Two immunohistochemical markers for bipolar cells, PKC and RB-1, identified axon terminals in sublaminae III and/or IIb. From the ramification pattern of axon terminal, they are probably subtypes of ON bipolar cells. ChAT-ir amacrine cells ramified their dendrites in either sublamina I or IIb. Altogether, present studies support the general idea of segregation of ON and OFF pathways in sublaminae a and b of the IPL.

Yumiko Umino, Miyuki Niino, and Takehiko Saito "Morphological and Functional Organization of ON and OFF Pathways in the Adult Newt Retina," Zoological Science 20(3), 291-301, (1 March 2003). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.20.291
Received: 21 November 2002; Accepted: 1 January 2003; Published: 1 March 2003
KEYWORDS
immunohistochemistry
intracellular recording
Lucifer-yellow staining
newt retina
ON and OFF pathways
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