Synaptic transmission from photoreceptors to bipolar and horizontal cells in the carp retina

Abstract

The most important observations in the present study can be summarized as follows: 1. In horizontal and bipolar cells, blocking chemical transmission caused membrane potential changes of the same polarity as the responses to illumination in each cell type. 2. Acceleration of transmitter release from the receptor terminals depolarized the horizontal cells, which is the opposite polarity to the light response. 3. Stimulation by transretinal current flowing from receptor side to vitreous side depolarized the receptor terminals and triggered transmitter release, which in turn evoked transient postsynaptic potentials in horizontal and bipolar cells. The polarity of the postsynaptic responses was the opposite to that of the light-evoked responses in each type of cell. 4. Hyperpolarization of the receptor terminals by the current of relatively long duration flowing from vitreous side to receptor side reduced the transmitter release, as demonstrated by the horizontal cell hyperpolarization. 5. From these observations, it is inferred that the receptors release the transmitter in the dark and that the transmission depolarizes horizontal and off-center bipolar cells by increasing membrane permeability chiefly to Na+ and hyperpolarizes the on-center bipolar cell by decreasing membrane permeability to Na+.