Asymmetries in the Architecture of ON and OFF Arbors in ON-OFF Direction-Selective Ganglion Cells

Direction selectivity is a fundamental feature in the visual system. In the retina, direction selectivity is independently computed by ON and OFF circuits. However, the advantages of extracting directional information from these two independent circuits are unclear. To gain insights, we examined the ON-OFF direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs), which recombine signals from both circuits. Specifically, we investigated the dendritic architecture of these neurons with the premise that asymmetries in architecture will provide insights into function. Scrutinizing the dendrites of dye-filled ON-OFF DSGCs reveals that the OFF arbors of these neurons are substantially denser. The increase in density can be primarily attributed to the higher branching seen in OFF arbors. Further, analysis of ON-OFF DSGCs in a previously published serial block-face electron microscopy dataset revealed that the denser OFF arbors packed more bipolar synapses per unit dendritic length. These asymmetries in the dendritic architecture suggest that the ON-OFF DSGC preferentially magnifies the synaptic drive of the OFF pathway, potentially allowing it to encode information distinct from the ON pathway.