Parallel Mechanisms Encode Direction in the Retina

Parallel Mechanisms Encode Direction in the Retina

In the retina, presynaptic inhibitory mechanisms that shape directionally selective (DS) responses in output ganglion cells are well established. However, the nature of inhibition-independent forms of directional selectivity remains poorly defined. Here, we describe a genetically specified set of ON-OFF DS ganglion cells (DSGCs) that code anterior motion. This entire population of DSGCs exhibit...

Cellular Mechanisms for Direction Selectivity in the Retina

Direction selectivity represents a fundamental computation found across multiple sensory systems. In the mammalian visual system, direction selectivity appears first in the retina, where excitatory and inhibitory interneurons release neurotransmitter most rapidly during movement in a preferred direction. Two parallel sets of interneuron signals are integrated by a direction-selective ganglion c...

Diverse synaptic mechanisms generate direction selectivity in the rabbit retina.

The synaptic conductance of the On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells was measured during visual stimulation to determine whether the direction selectivity is a property of the circuitry presynaptic to the ganglion cells or is generated by postsynaptic interaction of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Three synaptic asymmetries were identified that contribute to the generation of direction-s...

Direction-Selective Ganglion Cells in the Retina

Synaptic and dendritic mechanisms mediating direction-selective signaling in the retina

Understanding how information is integrated and processed in single neurons and small circuits is crucial for comprehending information processing in neural circuits, and will help elucidate the biophysical basis of cognition and cognitive dysfunction. The direction selective circuit of the retina has been an archetypical model for understanding how neural circuits process information in the br...