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Light-Evoked Synaptic Activity of Retinal Ganglion and Amacrine Cells is Regulated in Developing Mouse Retina

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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”