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Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision
Published on: June 13, 2019
Visual responses in the lateral geniculate evoked by Cx36-independent rod pathways
Timothy M Brown1, Annette E Allen, Jonathan Wynne
1Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. timothy.brown@manchester.ac.uk
Abstract:
Emerging evidence indicates rods can communicate with retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) via pathways that do not involve gap-junctions. Here we investigated the significance of such pathways for central visual responses, using mice lacking a key gap junction protein (Cx36(-/-)) and carrying a mutation that disrupts cone phototransduction (Gnat2(cpfl3)). Electrophysiological recordings spanning the lateral geniculate revealed rod-mediated ON and OFF visual responses in virtually every cell from all major anatomical sub-compartments of this nucleus. Hence, we demonstrate that one or more classes of RGC receive input from Cx36-independent rod pathways and drive extensive ON and OFF responses across the visual thalamus.
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