Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 5, 2026
An Isolated Retinal Preparation to Record Light Response from Genetically Labeled Retinal Ganglion Cells
Published on: January 26, 2011
Synaptic Specializations of Melanopsin-Retinal Ganglion Cells in Multiple Brain Regions Revealed by Genetic Label for
Keun-Young Kim1, Luis C Rios2, Hiep Le2
1Department of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA; National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Abstract:
The form and synaptic fine structure of melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells, also called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), were determined using a new membrane-targeted version of a genetic probe for correlated light and electron microscopy (CLEM). ipRGCs project to multiple brain regions, and because the method labels the entire neuron, it was possible to analyze nerve terminals in multiple retinorecipient brain regions, including the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), olivary pretectal nucleus (OPN), and subregions of the lateral geniculate. Although ipRGCs provide the only direct retinal input to the OPN and SCN, ipRGC terminal arbors and boutons were found to be remarkably different in each target region. A network of dendro-dendritic chemical synapses (DDCSs) was also revealed in the SCN, with ipRGC axon terminals preferentially synapsing on the DDCS-linked cells. The methods developed to enable this analysis should propel other CLEM studies of long-distance brain circuits at high resolution.
