| First Author | Szarka G | Year | 2024 |
| Journal | iScience | Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 110099 |
| PubMed ID | 38947503 | Mgi Jnum | J:391146 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7663718 | Doi | 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110099 |
| Citation | Szarka G, et al. (2024) Gap junctions fine-tune ganglion cell signals to equalize response kinetics within a given electrically coupled array. iScience 27(6):110099 |
| abstractText | Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) summate inputs and forward a spike train code to the brain in the form of either maintained spiking (sustained) or a quickly decaying brief spike burst (transient). We report diverse response transience values across the RGC population and, contrary to the conventional transient/sustained scheme, responses with intermediary characteristics are the most abundant. Pharmacological tests showed that besides GABAergic inhibition, gap junction (GJ)-mediated excitation also plays a pivotal role in shaping response transience and thus visual coding. More precisely GJs connecting RGCs to nearby amacrine and RGCs play a defining role in the process. These GJs equalize kinetic features, including the response transience of transient OFF alpha (tOFFalpha) RGCs across a coupled array. We propose that GJs in other coupled neuron ensembles in the brain are also critical in the harmonization of response kinetics to enhance the population code and suit a corresponding task. |
