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  1. Notable Paper: Paired-Pulse Plasticity In The Strength and Latency of Light-Evoked Lateral Inhibition to Retinal Bipolar Cell Terminals

    I’ve been doing some reading in plasticity recently and found this paper in the Journal of Neuroscience by Evan Vickers, Mean-Hwan Kim, Jozsef Vigh, and Henrique von Gersdorff published last summer that looks at short term plasticity in the Inner Plexiform Layer mediating light adaptation.  Working in goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) retina (an amazing retina), Vickers et. al. [...]

    Feb 21, 2013 — Read more No Comments

  2. Notable Paper: On Cone Bipolar Cell Axonal Synapses In The OFF Inner Plexiform Layer Of The Rabbit Retina

    This paper in the Journal of Comparative Neurology by  J. Scott Lauritzen, James R. Anderson, Bryan W. Jones, Carl B. Watt, Shoeb Mohammed, John V. Hoang and Robert E. Marc is another effort out of the Marc Laboratory For Connectomics that continues to define complete neural circuits to completeness. This paper is another elucidation of data from the first Rabbit Retinal Connectome volume (RC1) that reveals [...]

    Jan 30, 2013 — Read more 1 Comment

  3. Notable Paper: Photomechanical Responses In Drosophila Photoreceptors

    This notable paper by Roger C. Hardie and Kristian Franze looks at phototransduction in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.  Drosophila melanogaster has a long history in vision research of informing our understanding of the biochemical processes involved in phototransduction going back almost 40 years to this paper.  However, the Hardie and Franze paper looks at transient receptor potential (TRP) [...]

    Oct 17, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  4. Intrinsic Physiological Properties Of Rat Retinal Ganglion Cells With A Comparative Analysis

    This paper in the Journal of Neurophysiology by Raymond C S Wong, Shaun L Cloherty, Michael R Ibbotson and Brendan J O’Brien examined properties of retinal ganglion cells types that are conserved through mammalian species by looking at 16 morphologically defined rat and cat retinal ganglion cell types.  Their work demonstrates morphologically distinct retinal ganglion cell types [...]

    Oct 11, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  5. Notable Paper: Molecular Analysis Of The Amphioxus Frontal Eye…

    We at Webvision have a fascination with the evolution of the eye and are always looking for interesting papers that help describe from where, how and when vision came.  This paper, Molecular analysis of the amphioxus frontal eye unravels the evolutionary origin of the retina and pigment cells of the vertebrate eye by Pavel Vopalenskya, Jiri [...]

    Sep 19, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  6. Notable Paper: The Molecular Mechanism of Thermal Noise in Rod Photoreceptors

      Phototransduction is the process by which photon capture by opsins in photoreceptors is transduced into a neural signal.    However, there are limits on visual sensitivity that are imposed by thermal means as opposed to the photochemical mechanisms resulting in activation of the phototransduction cascade. The mechanism of this limit has long been a [...]

    Sep 12, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  7. Notable Paper: Partial Rescue of Retinal Function in Chronically Hypoglycemic Mice

    This paper by Yumiko Umino, Nicolas Cuenca, Drew Everhart, Laura Fernandez-Sanchez, Robert B. Barlow and Eduardo Solessio examined late onset retinal degeneration in a model of diabetic retinopathy.  Specifically, this manuscript attempted to examine the impact on retinas from the Gcgr knockout mice with long term high dietary glucose to see if that rescues retinal structure [...]

    Sep 5, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  8. Notable Paper: Receptor interacting protein kinase mediates necrotic cone but not rod cell death in a mouse model of inherited degeneration

    How photoreceptor cells go through the process of cell death has been an outstanding question.  The authors of this paper by Yusuke Murakami, Hidetaka Matsumoto, Miin Roh, Jun Suzuki, Toshio Hisatomi, Yasuhiro Ikeda, Joan W. Miller, and Demetrios G. Vavvas have further defined the process and identified the receptor interacting protein kinase (RIP) pathway as a [...]

    Aug 28, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  9. The Rd8 mutation of the Crb1 gene is present in vendor lines of C57BL/6N mice and embryonic stem cells

    This is an important issue for anyone involved in using murine models of retinal degeneration.  It turns out that contamination of Rd8 mutation in the B6 mice is more wide spread than the C57BL/6N mice.  Labs worldwide are going to have to reassess their data due to this mutation and all reviewers will ask about this [...]

    Aug 9, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  10. Undersized Dendritic Arborizations in Retinal Ganglion Cells of the rd1 Mutant Mouse: A Paradigm of Early Onset Photoreceptor Degeneration

    This paper by Devid Damiani, Elena Novelli, Francesca Mazzoni and Enrica Strettoi documents continued negative plasticity in retina by examining ganglion cells in the rd1 mouse.  The rd1 mouse is one of many models of retinal degenerative disease, in this case as an autosomal recessive retinal degenerative disease.  This work gets at the remodeling issue [...]

    Aug 8, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  11. Long-Term Characterization of Retinal Degeneration in rd1 and rd10 Mice Using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

    This study by Mark E. Pennesi, Keith V. Michaels, Sienna S. Magee, Anastasiya Maricle, Sean P. Davin, Anupam K. Garg, Michael J. Gale, Daniel C. Tu, Yuquan Wen, Laura R. Erker, and Peter J. Francis documents the use of SD-OCT as a robust, non-invasive method for monitoring retinal changes in vivo in rodent models of retinal degeneration. [...]

    Aug 6, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  12. Metabolic Differentiation In The Embryonic Retina

    Michalis Agathocleous, Nicola K. Love, Owen Randlett, Julia J. Harris, Jinyue Liu, Andrew J. Murray and William A. Harris have published a very interesting story on proliferating cells of the Xenopus laevis retina that documents aerobic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation.  Historically, this shift in metabolism was termed the Warburg effect where it was originally described in [...]

    Aug 1, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  13. Store-Operated Channels Regulate Intracellular Calcium In Mammalian Rods

    This *very cool* paper in The Journal of Physiology (also featured in the F1000) by authors Tünde Molnar, Peter Barabas, Lutz Birnbaumer, Claudio Punzo, Vladimir Kefalov and David Krizaj examines mechanisms of cytosolic calcium levels in rod photoreceptor cells.

    Jul 20, 2012 — Read more 1 Comment

  14. Full-Length Axon Regeneration In The Adult Mouse Optic Nerve and Partial Recovery of Simple Visual Behaviors

    Friend of Webvision Yves Sauvé sent in this paper by Silmara de Lima, Yoshiki Koriyama, Takuji Kurimoto, Julia Teixeira Oliveira, Yuqin Yin, Yiqing Li, Hui-Ya Gilbert, Michela Fagiolini, Ana Maria Blanco Martinez, and Larry Benowitz that documents regeneration of the optic nerve in the adult mouse, a potentially substantial breakthrough in therapeutic recovery of vision lost through [...]

    Jul 5, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  15. Functional and Anatomical Remodeling in Human Retinal Detachment

    This manuscript by Clairton F de Souza, Michael Kalloniatis, Philip J Polkinghorne, Charles N J McGhee and Monica L Acosta examined retinal remodeling in response to a form of retinal detachment.  Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.  The authors describe the changes observed and note that retinal plasticity is acute and likely occurs quickly enough that it may explain persistent [...]

    Jun 28, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  16. Microglia Sculpt Postnatal Neural Circuits In An Activity And Complement-Dependent Manner

    This very cool study by Dorothy P. Schafer, Emily K. Lehrman, Amanda G. Kautzman, Ryuta Koyama, Alan R. Mardinly, Ryo Yamasaki, Richard M. Ransohoff, Michael E. Greenberg, Ben A. Barres and Beth Stevens demonstrates how the immune system can participate in the circuitry of the developing mouse lateral genicular nucleus (LGN).

    Jun 11, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  17. Notable Paper: Network Deficiency Exacerbates Impairment in a Mouse Model of Retinal Degeneration

    This paper by Christopher W. Yee, Abduqodir H. Toychiev and Botir T. Sagdullaev examines the role that neural oscillations play in normal and pathological states.  In a neurodegenerative model of retinitis pigmentosa, the authors examined the activity of neural networks in the rd1 mouse model and compared that activity to the wild type.  

    Apr 1, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  18. Dysmorphic Photoreceptors in a P23H Mutant Rhodopsin Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa Are Metabolically Active and Capable of Regenerating to Reverse Retinal Degeneration

    This paper (and the cover article) is the result of a collaborative effort between Damian C. Lee, Felix R. Vazquez-Chona, W. Drew Ferrell, Beatrice M. Tam, Bryan W. Jones, Robert E. Marc, and Orson L. Moritz.

    Feb 29, 2012 — Read more 2 Comments

  19. Notable Paper: Gene Therapy Rescues Photoreceptor Blindness in Dogs and Paves The Way for Treating Human X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa

    This paper in PNAS by William A. Beltran, Artur V. Cideciyan, Alfred S. Lewin, Simone Iwabe, Hemant Khanna, Alexander Sumaroka, Vince A. Chiodo, Diego S. Fajardo, Alejandro J. Román, Wen-Tao Deng, Malgorzata Swider, Tomas S. Alemán, Sanford L. Boye, Sem Genini, Anand Swaroop, William W. Hauswirth, Samuel G. Jacobson and Gustavo D. Aguirre is a continuation [...]

    Feb 8, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  20. Generation of An Inbred Miniature Pig Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa

    A recent paper by Jason W. Ross, Juan P. Fernandez de Castro, Jianguo Zhao, Melissa Samuel, Eric Walters, Cecilia Rios, Patricia Bray-Ward, Bryan W. Jones, Robert E. Marc, Wei Wang, Liang Zhou, Jennifer M. Noel, Maureen A. McCall, Paul J. DeMarco, Randall S. Prather and Henry J. Kaplan describes the creation of a new model of retinal degenerative disease, specifically autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa in a miniature pig model, [...]

    Feb 7, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  21. Jumping Spiders Use Image Defocusing For Depth Perception

    A study out in today’s Science Magazine by Takashi Nagata, Mitsumasa Koyanagi, Hisao Tsukamoto, Shinjiro Saeki, Kunio Isono, Yoshinori Shichida, Fumio Tokunaga, Michiyo Kinoshita, Kentaro Arikawa and Akihisa Terakita proposes that jumping spiders at least, use image defocusing to provide depth perception.  Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are the largest family of spiders and have perhaps the best visual [...]

    Jan 26, 2012 — Read more 3 Comments

  22. Astrocyte pVHL and HIF-α Isoforms Are Required for Embryonic-To-Adult Vascular Transition In The Eye

    This paper from Toshihide Kurihara, Peter Westenskow, Tim Krohne, Edith Aguilar, Randy A. Johnson, and Marty Friedlander propose a model for the transition from embryonic to adult circulation in the eye  using a combinatorial gene deletion approach with over expression assays, examining astrocyte-targeted deletion of von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (Vhl), hypoxia-inducible factor-αs (Hif-αs), and VEGF [...]

    Jan 13, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  23. Functional Activation of Glutamate Ionotropic Receptors in the Human Peripheral Retina

    This paper by Clairton F. de Souza, Michael Kalloniatis, Philip J. Polkinghorne, Charles N.J. McGhee, Monica L. Acosta examines glutamate receptors and their functional activation in the human retina.

    Jan 9, 2012 — Read more No Comments

  24. Notable Paper: Acute vision in the giant Cambrian predator Anomalocaris and the origin of compound eyes

    Because knowing where we have come from with respect to the evolution of vision is so important, this paper by John R. Paterson, Diego C. García-Bellido, Michael S. Y. Lee, Glenn A. Brock, James B. Jago and Gregory D. Edgecombe gets our nod for a notable paper.  It does not hurt that I have a [...]

    Dec 7, 2011 — Read more No Comments

  25. Notable Paper: Acute destruction of the synaptic ribbon reveals a role for the ribbon in vesicle priming

    This article by Josefin Snellman, Bhupesh Mehta, Norbert Babai, Theodore M Bartoletti, Wendy Akmentin, Adam Francis, Gary Matthews, Wallace Thoreson and David Zenisek examines the vesicular priming process at synaptic ribbons.

    Nov 8, 2011 — Read more No Comments