Temporal characteristics of responses to photic stimulation by single ganglion cells in the unopened eye of the cat

Dopamine D1 and D4 receptors contribute to light adaptation in ON-sustained retinal ganglion cells

The adaptation of ganglion cells to increasing light levels is a crucial property of the retina. The retina must respond to light intensities that vary by 10-12 orders of magnitude, but the dynamic range of ganglion cell responses covers only ∼3 orders of magnitude. Dopamine is a crucial neuromodulator for light adaptation and activates receptors in the D1 and D2 families. Dopamine type D1 receptors (D1Rs) are expressed on horizontal cells and some bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells. In the D2 family, D2Rs are expressed on dopaminergic amacrine cells and D4Rs are primarily expressed on photoreceptors. However, the roles of activating these receptors to modulate the synaptic properties of the inputs to ganglion cells are not yet clear. Here, we used single-cell retinal patch-clamp recordings from the mouse retina to determine how activating D1Rs and D4Rs changed the light-evoked and spontaneous excitatory inputs to ON-sustained (ON-s) ganglion cells. We found that both D1R and D4R activation decrease the light-evoked excitatory inputs to ON-s ganglion cells, but that only the sum of the peak response decrease due to activating the two receptors was similar to the effect of light adaptation to a rod-saturating background. The largest effects on spontaneous excitatory activity of both D1R and D4R agonists was on the frequency of events, suggesting that both D1Rs and D4Rs are acting upstream of the ganglion cells.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Dopamine by bright light conditions allows retinal neurons to reduce sensitivity to adapt to bright light conditions. It is not clear how and why dopamine receptors modulate retinal ganglion cell signaling. We found that both D1 and D4 dopamine receptors in photoreceptors and inner retinal neurons contribute significantly to the reduction in sensitivity of ganglion cells with light adaptation. However, light adaptation also requires dopamine-independent mechanisms that could reflect inherent sensitivity changes in photoreceptors.

The dynamic receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were one of the first classes of sensory neurons to be described in terms of a receptive field (RF). Over the last six decades, our understanding of the diversity of RGC types and the nuances of their response properties has grown exponentially. We will review the current understanding of RGC RFs mostly from studies in mammals, but including work from other vertebrates as well. We will argue for a new paradigm that embraces the fluidity of RGC RFs with an eye toward the neuroethology of vision. Specifically, we will focus on (1) different methods for measuring RGC RFs, (2) RF models, (3) feature selectivity and the distinction between fluid and stable RF properties, and (4) ideas about the future of understanding RGC RFs.

Ambient illumination switches contrast preference of specific retinal processing streams

Contrast, a fundamental feature of visual scenes, is encoded in a distributed manner by ∼ 20 retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types, which stream visual information to the brain. RGC types respond preferentially to positive (ON(pref)) or negative (OFF(pref)) contrast and differ in their sensitivity to preferred contrast and responsiveness to nonpreferred stimuli. Vision operates over an enormous range of mean light levels. The influence of ambient illumination on contrast encoding across RGC types is not well understood. Here, we used large-scale multielectrode array recordings to characterize responses of mouse RGCs under lighting conditions spanning five orders in brightness magnitude. We identify three functional RGC types that switch contrast preference in a luminance-dependent manner (Sw1-, Sw2-, and Sw3-RGCs). As ambient illumination increases, Sw1- and Sw2-RGCs shift from ON(pref) to OFF(pref) and Sw3-RGCs from OFF(pref) to ON(pref). In all cases, transitions in contrast preference are reversible and track light levels. By mapping spatiotemporal receptive fields at different mean light levels, we find that changes in input from ON and OFF pathways in receptive field centers underlie shifts in contrast preference. Sw2-RGCs exhibit direction-selective responses to motion stimuli. Despite changing contrast preference, direction selectivity of Sw2-RGCs and other RGCs as well as orientation-selective responses of RGCs remain stable across light levels.

Phase locking below rate threshold in noisy model neurons

The property of a neuron to phase-lock to an oscillatory stimulus before adapting its spike rate to the stimulus frequency plays an important role for the auditory system. We investigate under which conditions neurons exhibit this phase locking below rate threshold. To this end, we simulate neurons employing the widely used leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) model. Tuning parameters, we can arrange either an irregular spontaneous or a tonic spiking mode. When the neuron is stimulated in both modes, a significant rise of vector strength prior to a noticeable change of the spike rate can be observed. Combining analytic reasoning with numerical simulations, we trace this observation back to a modulation of interspike intervals, which itself requires spikes to be only loosely coupled. We test the limits of this conception by simulating an LIF model with threshold fatigue, which generates pronounced anticorrelations between subsequent interspike intervals. In addition we evaluate the LIF response for harmonic stimuli of various frequencies and discuss the extension to more complex stimuli. It seems that phase locking below rate threshold occurs generically for all zero mean stimuli. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of stimulus detection.

Information transmission in oscillatory neural activity

Periodic neural activity not locked to the stimulus or to motor responses is usually ignored. Here, we present new tools for modeling and quantifying the information transmission based on periodic neural activity that occurs with quasi-random phase relative to the stimulus. We propose a model to reproduce characteristic features of oscillatory spike trains, such as histograms of inter-spike intervals and phase locking of spikes to an oscillatory influence. The proposed model is based on an inhomogeneous Gamma process governed by a density function that is a product of the usual stimulus-dependent rate and a quasi-periodic function. Further, we present an analysis method generalizing the direct method (Rieke et al. in Spikes: exploring the neural code. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1999; Brenner et al. in Neural Comput 12(7):1531-1552, 2000) to assess the information content in such data. We demonstrate these tools on recordings from relay cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat.

The maintained discharge of rat retinal ganglion cells

Action potentials were recorded from rat retinal ganglion cell fibers in the presence of a uniform field, and the maintained discharge pattern was characterized. Spike trains recorded under ketaminexylazine. The majority of cells had multimodal interval distributions, with the first peak in the range of 25.00.97). Both ON and OFF cells show serial correlations between adjacent interspike intervals, while ON cells also showed second-order correlations. Cells with multimodal interval distribution showed a strong peak at high frequencies in the power spectra in the range of 28.9-41.4 Hz. Oscillations were present under both anesthetic conditions and persisted in the dark at a slightly lower frequency, implying that the oscillations are generated independent of any light stimulus but can be modulated by light level. The oscillation frequency varied slightly between cells of the same type and in the same eye, suggesting that multiple oscillatory generating mechanisms exist within the retina. Cells with high-frequency oscillations were described well by an integrate-and-fire model with the input consisting of Gaussian noise plus a sinusoid where the phase was jittered randomly to account for the bandwidth present in the oscillations.

The representation of complex images in spatial frequency domains of primary visual cortex

The organization of cat primary visual cortex has been well mapped using simple stimuli such as sinusoidal gratings, revealing superimposed maps of orientation and spatial frequency preferences. However, it is not yet understood how complex images are represented across these maps. In this study, we ask whether a linear filter model can explain how cortical spatial frequency domains are activated by complex images. The model assumes that the response to a stimulus at any point on the cortical surface can be predicted by its individual orientation, spatial frequency, and temporal frequency tuning curves. To test this model, we imaged the pattern of activity within cat area 17 in response to stimuli composed of multiple spatial frequencies. Consistent with the predictions of the model, the stimuli activated low and high spatial frequency domains differently: at low stimulus drift speeds, both domains were strongly activated, but activity fell off in high spatial frequency domains as drift speed increased. To determine whether the filter model quantitatively predicted the activity patterns, we measured the spatiotemporal tuning properties of the functional domains in vivo and calculated expected response amplitudes from the model. The model accurately predicted cortical response patterns for two types of complex stimuli drifting at a variety of speeds. These results suggest that the distributed activity of primary visual cortex can be predicted from cortical maps like those of orientation and SF preference generated using simple, sinusoidal stimuli, and that dynamic visual acuity is degraded at or before the level of area 17.

Phase locking of neuronal responses to the vertical refresh of computer display monitors in cat lateral geniculate nucleus and striate cortex

The proliferation of low-cost microcomputer systems has led to the use of these systems as alternatives to expensive display devices for visual physiology and psychophysics experiments. The video displays of these systems often lack the flexibility of achieving wide linear luminance ranges and high vertical refresh rates--two parameters which may influence data acquisition. We have examined the responses of neurons and pairs of neurons in cat LGN and striate cortex to bar and sinusoidal grating stimuli generated by a conventional PC-based VGA graphics card and displayed on a NEC Multisync + color monitor with a 60 Hz vertical (display) refresh rate. Responses to these stimuli were autocorrelated and power spectral densities (PSD) were calculated, revealing that the majority of simple and complex cortical cells and nearly all LGN cells exhibited significant peaks in their autocorrelations at 16.7 ms and in the PSD at 60 Hz. Responses to identical stimuli generated with an optical bench using an incandescent light source contained no power at 60 Hz. Furthermore, cross-correlations between the spike trains of neuron-pairs were severely contaminated by peaks directly attributable to the entrainment of the two elements of the pair to the vertical refresh signal. Thus, we suggest that the use of conventional computer displays introduces a temporal artifact into neuronal spike trains in both single and multiple spike train analysis.

Saccade onset and offset lambda waves: relation to pattern movement visually evoked potentials

The lambda (lambda) wave is an occipital EEG potential which occurs when saccadic eye movements are made against an illuminated contrast background. There is some disagreement concerning the presence of sub-components to the lambda-wave, and its relationship to visually evoked potentials. In the present study, lambda-waves were recorded with saccades of different durations (30-110 ms) and compared to VEPs associated with pattern movements of similar durations and velocity. It was found that the lambda-wave consisted of a saccade onset component with positive sub-components at 59 and 100 ms after saccade onset, and a saccade offset component with a positive potential at 74 ms after saccade offset. With small saccades of 30 ms duration or less, these components superimposed to form a single lambda-wave. In the case of pattern movement VEPs, a movement onset component of latency 110 ms following movement onset, and a movement offset component at 89 ms after movement offset, were identified. The similar behaviour of the lambda-wave and VEP under these conditions supports the view that the lambda-wave is a visually evoked potential resulting from movement of the visual field across the retina during a saccadic eye movement.

Spatiotemporal frequency responses of cat retinal ganglion cells

Spatiotemporal frequency responses were measured at different levels of light adaptation for cat X and Y retinal ganglion cells. Stationary sinusoidal luminance gratings whose contrast was modulated sinusoidally in time or drifting gratings were used as stimuli. Under photopic illumination, when the spatial frequency was held constant at or above its optimum value, an X cell's responsivity was essentially constant as the temporal frequency was changed from 1.5 to 30 Hz. At lower temporal frequencies, responsivity rolled off gradually, and at higher ones it rolled off rapidly. In contrast, when the spatial frequency was held constant at a low value, an X cell's responsivity increased continuously with temporal frequency from a very low value at 0.1 Hz to substantial values at temporal frequencies higher than 30 Hz, from which responsivity rolled off again. Thus, 0 cycles X deg-1 became the optimal spatial frequency above 30 Hz. For Y cells under photopic illumination, the spatiotemporal interaction was even more complex. When the spatial frequency was held constant at or above its optimal value, the temporal frequency range over which responsivity was constant was shorter than that of X cells. At lower spatial frequencies, this range was not appreciably different. As for X cells, 0 cycles X deg-1 was the optimal spatial frequency above 30 Hz. Temporal resolution (defined as the high temporal frequency at which responsivity had fallen to 10 impulses X s-1) for a uniform field was approximately 95 Hz for X cells and approximately 120 Hz for Y cells under photopic illumination. Temporal resolution was lower at lower adaptation levels. The results were interpreted in terms of a Gaussian center-surround model. For X cells, the surround and center strengths were nearly equal at low and moderate temporal frequencies, but the surround strength exceeded the center strength above 30 Hz. Thus, the response to a spatially uniform stimulus at high temporal frequencies was dominated by the surround. In addition, at temporal frequencies above 30 Hz, the center radius increased.

Fluorescent tube light evokes flicker responses in visual neurons

Single neurons in the cat visual system respond distinctly to the temporal information present in light from fluorescent tubes driven by 50 or 60 Hz alternating current. Despite the resulting flicker frequencies of 100 or 120 Hz all retinal and most thalamic neurons show strong phase locking of the neuronal responses to the modulation of fluorescent tube light. Some retinal ganglion cells have not yet reached their critical flicker fusion frequency under such conditions. Though usually beyond perception, the frequency and depth of modulation of artificial light thus might well play a role in biological light effects.

Visual stability and space perception in monocular vision: mathematical model

A deterministic model for monocular space perception is presented. According to the model, retinal luminance changes due to involuntary eye movements are detected and locally analyzed to yield the angular velocity of each image point. The stable three-dimensional spatial coordinates of viewed objects are then reconstructed using a method of infinitesimal transformations. The extraction of the movement (parallax) field from the optical flow is represented by a set of differential equations, the derivation of which is based on the conservation of energy principle. The relation of the model to retinal neurophysiology and to various aspects of visual space perception is discussed.

Correlation analysis of units recorded in the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus

Spike activity was simultaneously recorded from pairs of units consisting of both optic tract fibers and relay cells in the cat dLGN. The unit pairs were classified with regard to the types of receptive fields involved, the relative location of receptive fields, and their occular drive. Statistical dependencies between the discharge patterns of the simultaneously observed units were assessed by computing their auto- and crosscorrelogram during a period of maintained discharge. Two distinctly different types of statistical dependence were observed. Unit pairs having like and overlapping receptive field centers exhibited statistical dependencies manifested in their crosscorrelograms by a peak near the origin. Conversely, unit pairs having opposite and overlapping receptive field centers were characterized by a prominent valley in their crosscorrelograms near the origin. These statistical dependencies are inferred to represent functional interaction most probably occurring in the retina and characterized by a common element exerting an influence on both units.

Cat retinal ganglion cells: size and shape of receptive field centres

1. Receptive field centres of 144 sustained and transient retinal ganglion cells were mapped in cats under light pentobarbitone anaesthesia.2. Sustained on-centre, sustained off-centre, transient on-centre and transient off-centre cells had different mean sizes of receptive field centre, with some overlap between their distributions.3. For each class of cell, central fields had the smallest field-centres; progressively larger field-centres were encountered more peripherally.4. All classes of ganglion cells tended to have slightly elliptical receptive field centres. Major axes of over half of all receptive fields were oriented within 20 degrees of horizontal. These trends were independent of pupil dimensions, or of receptive field eccentricity or position in the visual field. The results almost certainly reflect asymmetry in retinal wiring.5. Two cells of thirty-nine tested were sensitive to axis of motion; in both cases the preferred and major axis were horizontal. A further cell was orientation specific.

Intensity coding in the frog retina. Quantitative relations between impulse and graded activity

The impulse discharge of single on-off neurons and a graded field potential, the proximal negative response (PNR), were simultaneously recorded with an extracellular microelectrode in the inner frog retina. Normalized amplitude-intensity functions for the on-response of the PNR and the neuron's post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) were nearly coincident and typically showed a dynamic range spanning approximately 2 log units of intensity. Thus a nearly linear relation is found between the amplitude of the PNR and the neuron's PSTH. A neuron's PSTH amplitude and maximum instantaneous frequency of discharge were usually highly correlated, but occasional marked disparities indicate that temporal jitter of the first spike latency is an additional, relatively independent variable influencing PSTH amplitude. It typically changes by a factor of 20-30 over the intensity range. These and other findings have implications for the functional significance of the PNR and the PSTH, for a possible linear link between amacrine and on-off ganglion cells, and for a mechanism of intensity coding in which temporal jitter of latency exerts a major role.

Receptive field organization of 'sustained' and 'transient' retinal ganglion cells which subserve different function roles

1. Post-stimulus histograms were obtained from ;sustained' and ;transient' retinal ganglion cells for receptive field plots using a light spot with square-wave modulation of intensity, and of variable intensity and area. Fundamental differences in their receptive field organization in time and space were revealed.2. In ;sustained' cells, excitation consists of ;transient' and ;sustained' components and the ratio of transient/sustained components remains constant at a given retinal locus for a wide range of intensities. The transient component becomes proportionally larger towards the periphery of the receptive field. This rule is also applicable for the inhibitory and disinhibitory surround. In ;transient' cells, however, there is no true ;sustained' component, but some cells produce a double peaked transient post-stimulus histogram at the R.F. centre when high flux stimuli are used, while others show a single peak transient response. The magnitude and shape of transient responses changes with intensity as well as with location in the receptive field.3. The sensitivity gradients of ;sustained' and ;transient' cells show consistent differences in shape. The mean slope of the sensitivity gradients of a sample of ;sustained' cells was 10 times that of a sample of ;transient' cells. The sensitivity gradient of ;sustained' cells shows a distinct surround region where the inhibitory mechanism is more sensitive, while that of ;transient' cells usually does not, owing to an extensive ;tail' on the sensitivity gradient of the centre mechanism, which overlaps the surround.4. Ricco's Law also holds for the centre mechanism of ;transient' cells. Non-linear summation occurs at supra-threshold levels, and when the surround mechanisms are involved.5. Supra-optimal stimuli give a saturation of the response in both ;transient and ;sustained' cells. This saturation is associated with a decrease of latency in ;transient' cells, but not in ;sustained' cells.6. The latency of retinal ganglion cells is determined by both stimulus and background flux. The effect of the background is negligible except at low values of stimulus flux, where its effect may be analysed primarily in terms of its effect on the incremental threshold.7. The latency to stimulation with a standard small spot (25-27') at the receptive field centre is shorter for ;sustained' cells than for ;transient' cells; this latency difference being related to the greater sensitivity of the ;sustained' cells to stimuli of this size. Differences in conduction time along ;transient' and ;sustained' pathways to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and cortex were estimated, and it is concluded that despite the latency difference noted above, a response to a stimulus which is optimal for a ;transient' cell reaches the cortex faster than the response to a stimulus which is optimal for a ;sustained' cell.8. The above results together with previous evidence available suggest that for most stimuli, centre and surround mechanisms are activated simultaneously and algebraically summed by a single linear stage in ;sustained' cells. In ;transient' cells, although the centre excitation and surround inhibition pools are also spatially co-extensive, they summate and interact in time and space with a greater complexity.9. Differences in the receptive field organization of ;sustained' and ;transient' cells may reflect their different functional roles in vision: (1) analysis of spatial contrast and form recognition (;sustained' cells), and (2) fast detection of objects entering visual space to cause orientation responses (;transient' cells).

Quantitative aspects of gain and latency in the cat retina

1. The gain of the central response mechanism and the latency of the pure central response of on-centre ganglion cells were studied by recording from single optic tract fibres the responses evoked by slow square-wave stimuli applied against some steady background.2. The concept of effective flux was introduced and defined: if any portion of a stimulus extends beyond Ricco's area of complete summation, then that stimulus has an actual flux, equal to the product of its area and luminance, but it also has an effective flux which is that fraction of its actual flux which equals the actual flux of another stimulus which, when it falls entirely within Ricco's area, evokes an isobolic pure central response or has the same adaptive effect upon the central response mechanism as the first stimulus.3. The most significant finding was that when the cell responded with a pure central response to the incremental flux (the square wave) applied against a steady effective background flux, then the gain and the latency were functions exclusively of the sum of the two fluxes (the total flux), not of the incremental or background flux as such. This shows that the level of field adaptation of the central mechanism is reset within the latent period of the response to an incremental flux.4. Increment sensitivity curves based on isobolic suprathreshold responses all had the same slope of 0.9, when the log of the incremental flux was plotted against the log of the total flux. A plot of log latency against log total effective flux had a slope of -0.1.5. The stimulus-response relation derived from (3) and (4) was [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], where R is the response amplitude, F(et) the total flux, DeltaF(e) the incremental flux and K(1) and K(2) are constants.

Specialized receptive fields of the cat's retina

Three new types of receptive field have been found in the cat's retina. The responses of these fields to flashing lights and moving objects suggest that the manner in which they code visual information may be quite different from that of the center-surround fields described in previous studies. These "specialized" fields were all found in the area centralis. A definite functional difference, corresponding to the known anatomical difference, between this region and the rest of the retina, is suggested.