期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2010
卷号：107
期号：12
页码：5628-5633
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0909621107
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Retinal ganglion cells convey information by increasing their firing in response to an optimal visual stimulus or "trigger feature." However, one class of ganglion cell responds to changes in the visual scene by decreasing its firing. These cells, termed uniformity detectors in the rabbit retina, are encountered only rarely and the synaptic mechanisms underlying their unusual responses have not been investigated. In this study, patch-clamp recordings of uniformity detectors show that the action potentials underlying the maintained firing arise within "complex spikes." Both ON and OFF visual stimuli elicit only inhibitory synaptic input, the immediate effect of which is to suppress the maintained firing. However, this inhibition also alters the properties of the "renascent" spiking by increasing the amplitude of the spikes within each burst, suggesting that the effect may increase the efficacy of spike propagation and transmission.
