A diversity of GABA receptors in the retina

GABA, a major inhibitory transmitter in the vertebrate retina, plays important roles in processing visual information. There are three functional families of retinal GABA receptors, the ionotropic GABAA and GABAC receptors and the metabotropic GABAB receptor. GABAC receptors are enriched in the retina, compared to other parts of the CNS. GABAC and GABAB receptors are found on subsets of neurons, whereas GABAA receptors are ubiquitous. The distinct functional properties of GABAA, GABAB and GABAC receptors suggests that individual neurons with different receptor complements have unique responses to GABA.