Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Transretinal ERG Recordings from Mouse Retina: Rod and Cone Photoresponses
Published on: March 14, 2012
A fast rod photoreceptor signaling pathway in the mammalian retina
Wei Li1, Shan Chen, Steven H DeVries
1Unit on Retinal Neurophysiology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. liwei2@nei.nih.gov
Abstract:
Rod photoreceptors were recently shown to contact 'Off' cone bipolar cells, providing an alternative pathway for rod signal flow in the mammalian retina. By recording from pairs of rods and Off cone bipolar cells in the ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus), we measured the synaptic responses of mammalian rods unfiltered by the slow kinetics of the rod bipolar cell response. We show that vesicle fusion and turnover in mammalian rods is fast, and that this new pathway can mediate rapid signaling.
Related Concept Videos
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
The Retina
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...
Anatomy of the Eyeball
G-Protein Gated Ion Channels
Sensory organs,...

