Bullfrog retinal bipolar cells may express heterogeneous glycine receptors at dendrites and axon terminals

Subcellular localization and properties of glycine receptors on bipolar cells (BCs) were studied using whole-cell recordings and non-stationary noise analysis (NSNA) in bullfrog retinal slices. The currents elicited by focally applied glycine were of comparable amplitudes at the dendrites and axon terminals of both OFF and ON BCs. Moreover, glycine receptors were also expressed at the axons of some BCs. NSNA revealed that the weighted mean single-channel conductance of the glycine receptors at the dendrites (18.2 pS) was significantly larger than that of those at the axon terminals (8.1 pS), thus implying that the glycine receptors on bullfrog retinal BCs may be heterogeneous at these two sites.