A diversity of GABA receptors in the retina

Abstract

GABA, a major inhibitory transmitter in the vertebrate retina, plays important roles in processing visual information. There are three functional families of retinal GABA receptors, the ionotropic GABA Aand GABA Creceptors and the metabotropic GABA Breceptor. GABA Creceptors are enriched in the retina, compared to other parts of the CNS. GABA Cand GABA Breceptors are found on subsets of neurons, whereas GABA Areceptors are ubiquitous. The distinct functional properties of GABA A, GABA Band GABA Creceptors suggests that individual neurons with different receptor complements have unique responses to GABA.