A general principle governs vision-dependent dendritic patterning of retinal ganglion cells

Dendritic arbors of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) collect information over a certain area of the visual scene. The coverage territory and the arbor density of dendrites determine what fraction of the visual field is sampled by a single cell and at what resolution. However, it is not clear whether visual stimulation is required for the establishment of branching patterns of RGCs, and whether a general principle directs the dendritic patterning of diverse RGCs. By analyzing the geometric structures of RGC dendrites, we found that dendritic arbors of RGCs underwent a substantial spatial rearrangement after eye-opening. Light deprivation blocked both the dendritic growth and the branch patterning, suggesting that visual stimulation is required for the acquisition of specific branching patterns of RGCs. We further showed that vision-dependent dendritic growth and arbor refinement occurred mainly in the middle portion of the dendritic tree. This nonproportional growth and selective refinement suggest that the late-stage dendritic development of RGCs is not a passive stretching with the growth of eyes, but rather an active process of selective growth/elimination of dendritic arbors of RGCs driven by visual activity. Finally, our data showed that there was a power law relationship between the coverage territory and dendritic arbor density of RGCs on a cell-by-cell basis. RGCs were systematically less dense when they cover larger territories regardless of their cell type, retinal location, or developmental stage. These results suggest that a general structural design principle directs the vision-dependent patterning of RGC dendrites.