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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Simultaneous Whole-cell Recordings from Photoreceptors and Second-order Neurons in an Amphibian Retinal Slice Preparation
Published on: June 1, 2013
Bipolar cells use kainate and AMPA receptors to filter visual information into separate channels
1Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Houston Health Science Center, University of Texas, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Abstract:
Unlike cone photoreceptors, whose light responses have a uniform time course, retinal ganglion cells are tuned to respond to different temporal components in a changing visual scene. The signals in a mammalian cone flow to three to five morphologically distinct "OFF" bipolar cells at a sign-conserving, glutamatergic synapse. By recording simultaneously from pairs of synaptically connected cones and OFF bipolar cells, I now show that each morphological type of OFF bipolar cell receives its signal through a different AMPA or kainate receptor. The characteristic rate at which each receptor recovers from desensitization divides the cone signal into temporal components. Temporal processing begins at the first synapse in the visual system.
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