Tag Archives: ON cone bipolar

Coupling Architecture Of The AII/ON Cone Bipolar Cell Network In Degenerate Retina

This abstract was presented today, April 8th at the 2019 Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology (ARVO) meetings in Vancouver, Canada as a platform presentation by Crystal L. Sigulinsky, Rebecca L. PfeifferJames R. Anderson, Daniel P. Emrich, Christopher Rapp, Jeebika Dahal, Jessica Garcia, Hope Morrison, Kevin D. Rapp, Jia-Hui Yang, Carl B. Watt, Robert E. Marc and Bryan W. Jones.

Purpose
In mouse models of retinal degeneration, connexin36-containing gap junctions in the Aii amacrine cell network appear to mediate aberrant hyperactivity within the retina. However, it remains unclear whether this hyperactivity reflects changes in the underlying circuitry or dysfunction of the normative circuitry. Our connectomics-based mapping of retinal circuitry in rabbit Retinal Connectome 1 (RC1) has dramatically expanded the coupled Aii network. In addition to canonical Aii-to-Aii and Aii-to-ON cone bipolar cell (CBC) coupling, we describe pervasive in- and cross-class coupling motifs among ON CBCs. This study examines the changes in these coupling motifs in RPC1, an ultrastructural retinal pathoconnectome from a rabbit model of retinitis pigmentosa.

Methods
RC1 and RPC1 are connectomes built by automated transmission electron microscopy at ultrastructural (2 nm/pixel) resolution. RC1 is a 0.25 mm diameter volume of retina from a 13 month old, light-adapted female Dutch Belted rabbit and serves as the healthy reference connectome. RPC1 is a 0.09 mm diameter volume of pathological retina from a 10 month old, male transgenic P347L model of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa showing early phase 1 retinal remodeling, when rod photoreceptors are still present, but stressed. ON CBCs, Aii amacrine cells, and their coupling partners were annotated using the Viking application. Coupling motifs and features were explored with 3D rendering and graph visualization of connectivity. Gap junctions were validated by 0.25 nm resolution recapture with goniometric tilt when necessary.

Results
All major coupling motifs were observed. Several ON CBC classes retained their class-specific coupling profiles, accepting and rejecting specific combinations of Aii and ON CBC class partnerships. However, aberrant partnerships exist in the coupled network, including both loss of prominent motifs and acquisition of novel ones.

Conclusions
Clearly aberrant morphological and synaptic changes exist in RPC1, including changes in the coupling specificity and gap junction distributions of both Aii amacrine cells and ON CBCs. This indicates that the Aii/ON CBC circuit topology is already altered during early phase 1 remodeling, with substantial implications for therapeutic interventions for blinding diseases that depend upon the surviving retinal network in human patients.

Ultrastructural Connectomics Reveals The Entire Chemical And Electrical Synaptic Cohort Of An ON Cone Bipolar Cell In The Inner Plexiform Layer Of The Rabbit Retina

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This abstract was presented at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C. by J. Scott Lauritzen, Crystal L. Sigulinsky, Danny P. Emrich, Joshua M. Dudleston, Noah T. Nelson, Rebecca L. Pfeiffer, Nathan R. Sherbotie, John V. Hoang, Jefferson R. Brown, Carl B. WattJames R. Anderson, Bryan W. Jones and Robert E. Marc.

Purpose: Despite large-scale efforts aimed at mapping the mammalian nervous system, the entire synaptic cohort of a single mammalian neuron of any class has never been mapped. To this end we reconstructed all chemical and electrical synaptic partners of a single ON cone bipolar cell (ON CBC) in the inner plexiform layer (IPL) of the rabbit retina. We then searched all members of the same cell class for repeating network motifs and explored postsynaptic cell sampling topologies from this bipolar cell (BC).

Methods: Cells in retinal connectome 1 (RC1) were annotated with Viking viewer, and explored via graph visualization of connectivity and 3D rendering (Anderson et al., 2011 J Microscopy). Small molecule signals in RC1, e.g. GABA, glycine, and L-glutamate, combined with morphological reconstruction and connectivity analysis allow robust cell classification. The default resolution of RC1 is 2.18nm/pixel, however goniometric recapture at 0.273 nm/pixel was performed as needed for synapse verification.

Results: ON CBC 593 is one of 20 BCs of this class in RC1, the axonal arbors of which tile with gap junctions between nearest neighbors at their distal axonal tips. ON CBC 593 contains 194 ribbons, 274 postsynaptic densities, 20 gap junctions, and 66 conventional synapses, for a total of 554 synaptic connections. Twenty ganglion cells sample the glutamatergic output. ON CBC 593 is presynaptic to 262 amacrine cell (AC) processes, and is postsynaptic to 228 AC processes. Of these, 33% form reciprocal connections. We approximate that ON CBC 593 forms synapses with 50 distinct ACs. ON CBC 593 is routinely pre- and postsynaptic to within-class, cross-class, feedback, and feedforward inhibition motifs, including 1 instance of OFF-ON crossover inhibition. ON CBC 593 forms 12 gap junctions with at least 2 AII ACs, 7 with 5 ON CBCs, and 1 with itself. We searched for repeating network motifs across all ON CBCs of this class in RC1. Thus far, 80% of these form in-class inhibitory motifs, and 75% form cross-class inhibitory motifs. All ACs and GCs discovered to contact multiple branches of ON CBC 593 form synapses on every branch.

Conclusions: An individual bipolar cell is inherently multi-kinetic, receiving inhibition driven by all ON CBC classes, sharing these signals via gap junctions with ON CBCs of the same class, and driving inhibition of all ON CBC classes. This constitutes a substrate for multi-channel coordination throughout the IPL, and predicts multi-kinetic BC responses. The results establish a normative framework against which members of the same and different classes may be compared, and foster interpretation of BC physiological behavior under different stimulus regimes.