This paper by Q. He, Wang P and Ning Tian characterizes the developmental profiles of the light evoked excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs from ON and OFF synaptic pathways in the retina, the light evoked synaptic outputs and the sensitivity of the light evoked synaptic inputs and outputs to light deprivation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and displaced amacrine cells (ACs) of developing mouse retina. The results strongly suggest that spontaneous and light-evoked synaptic activities of RGCs and ACs are regulated by different synaptic mechanisms.
A Photographers Visit to the Moran Eye Center
A friend of Webvision, renaissance man and photographer extraordinaire, Duncan Davidson visited us at the Moran Eye Center and hung out for a day of science while we performed experiments. Duncan documented some of the work we did that day in the lovely video he posted to Vimeo above. You have quite possibly seen Duncan’s work before on CNN or of individuals giving talks at the TED conference as Duncan is the official TED photographer.
Continue reading “A Photographers Visit to the Moran Eye Center”
Iris Sphere
We present to you for your Friday viewing, another entry in the Art of Vision category, an artistic image of a montage of the iris and pupil from James Gilman of the Moran Eye Center
Astrocyte/Blood Vessel Relationships
Another image sent to us by Dr. Nicolás Cuenca of the University of Alicante, created by Laura Fernández-Sánchez and Nicolás Cuenca, is the winning picture of the 2010 European Vision Research image competition. Continue reading “Astrocyte/Blood Vessel Relationships”
Notable Paper: Virally Delivered Channelrhodopsin-2 Safely and Effectively Restores Visual Function in Multiple Mouse Models of Blindness
This truly groundbreaking paper by M Mehdi Doroudchi, Kenneth P Greenberg, Jianwen Liu, Kimberly A Silka, Edward S Boyden, Jennifer A Lockridge, A Cyrus Arman, Ramesh Janani, Shannon E Boye, Sanford L Boye, Gabriel M Gordon, Benjamin C Matteo, Alapakkam P Sampath, William W Hauswirth and Alan Horsager demonstrates that channelrhodopsin-2, a cation channel from algae than can be gated/activated by light can restore both physiological and behavioral visual responses in mice with retinal degenerative disease.
Stargardt’s Disease angiogram
Venous phase fluorescein sodium angiogram of a dark choroid in Stargardt’s disease or fundus flavimaculatus. Stargart’s Disease is a progressive retinal degenerative disease caused by mutations in one of 3 genes, ABCA4, ELOVL4 or PROM1. The disease is a form of juvenile onset macular degeneration affecting the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE). The disease onset and progression is usually bilateral.
Notable Paper: UNC119 is Required for G Protein Trafficking in Sensory Neurons
Photoreceptors are specialized cells that elaborate a cilium which becomes the inner and outer segments of the photoreceptor that house photopigments (a beautiful TEM image of a photoreceptor cilium and its inner/outer segment can be seen here)…. Continue reading “Notable Paper: UNC119 is Required for G Protein Trafficking in Sensory Neurons”
Cone Opsin Determines The Time Course of Cone Photoreceptor Degeneration in Leber Congenital Amaurosis
It is been long known that ventral and central cones degenerate more rapidly than dorsal cones in retinoid-deprived LCA (Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis) models. This paper in PNAS by Tao Zhang, Wolfgang Baehr…
100 Papers You Should Read: Synaptic Relationships in the Plexiform Layers of Carp Retina
This is the third paper in the category, 100 Papers You Should Read (in vision science).
This paper, Synaptic Relationships in the Plexiform Layers of Carp Retina by Paul Witkovsky and John Dowling along with a previous one, Dowling and Boycott, 1966, began to set the stage for investigations into the circuitry of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and it has only been fairly recently that this work been confirmed and extended. Continue reading “100 Papers You Should Read: Synaptic Relationships in the Plexiform Layers of Carp Retina”
Alan Horsager speaks at TEDx
I was talking with Dr. Alan Horsager the other day and was pleased to find out that he gave a brief talk at TEDx USC. His talk was on a set of technologies and an approach that we in the Marclab are collaborating…