Chapter 3 Responses of isolated cat retinal ganglion cells to injected currents during development

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the response properties of dissociated ganglion cells to constant current stimulation. The whole-cell patch clamp recording technique offers a powerful tool for assessing the membrane properties of developing neurons. This method to record from acutely dissociated retinal ganglion cells obtained from postnatal and prenatal cats, in order to characterize the development of spiking properties in these neurons. The long-term goal of this work is to relate the functional development of retinal ganglion cells to the structural refinements that are known to occur in these neurons during ontogeny. It has been found recently that somatostatin-containing amacrine cells and ganglion cells, which at maturity are preferentially distributed in the inferior, are widespread in the fetal cat retina. It is conceivable that developing ganglion cells are particularly sensitive to certain transiently expressed neuromodulators, and that this contributes to the correlated discharges that have been noted in the developing retina.