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Related Experiment Videos

Early functional neural networks in the developing retina

R O Wong1, A Chernjavsky, S J Smith

  • 1Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA.

Nature
|April 20, 1995
PubMed
Summary

Early in retinal development, spontaneously active horizontal networks, not visual pathways, pattern neuronal function. Retinal ganglion cells and amacrine cells show synchronized calcium oscillations before photoreceptors are present.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Retinal Physiology

Background:

  • The adult mammalian retina processes visual information via a vertical pathway from photoreceptors to ganglion cells.
  • Retinal development establishes complex neural circuits for visual processing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate early functional network formation in the developing mammalian retina.
  • To characterize the nature of neuronal activity before the onset of visual input.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized optical recording with the calcium-sensitive dye Fura-2.
  • Examined intracellular calcium concentration oscillations in retinal ganglion cells and amacrine cells.

Main Results:

  • Identified spontaneously active, functionally defined networks in the developing retina prior to photoreceptor presence.

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  • Observed synchronized, wave-like oscillations in intracellular calcium concentration across neighboring retinal ganglion cells and amacrine cells.
  • Demonstrated that initial retinal network activity follows horizontal, tangential pathways.

    • Conclusions:

    • Early retinal circuitry development is characterized by spontaneous, horizontally propagating neuronal activity.
    • This horizontal patterning precedes the emergence of the adult vertical visual information processing pathway.
    • Suggests a developmental role for spontaneous activity in shaping retinal functional architecture.