gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter-mediated current from bipolar cells in tiger salamander retinal slices
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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Whole-cell Recordings of Light Evoked Excitatory Synaptic Currents in the Retinal Slice
Published on: July 2, 2008
1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. cyang@neurobio.sunysb.edu
Abstract:
About 10% of bipolar cells in salamander retina synthesize and take up gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and may use GABA as a neurotransmitter. As GABA uptake is electrogenic, bipolar cells expressing GABA transporters (GATs) should give transport current (IGAT) to extracellular GABA. Using whole-cell patch recording, 28 bipolar cells responded to 30-200 microM GABA puffed to the axon terminals with a picrotoxin (PTX)-sensitive chloride current (ICI) only. Another three bipolar cells had, in addition to ICI, a PTX-resistant, sodium-dependent current that was completely and reversibly blocked by NO-711, an IGAT inhibitor, indicating that this component was an IGAT. This finding provides further support for a subset of GABAergic bipolar cells in the salamander retina.

