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The Journal of Neuroscience, November 1, 1998, 18(21):8839-8852
Developmentally Regulated Spontaneous Activity in the
Embryonic Chick Retina
Wai T.
Wong,
Joshua R.
Sanes, and
Rachel O. L.
Wong
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University
School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Even before birth and the onset of sensory experience, neural
activity plays an important role in shaping the vertebrate nervous system. In the embryonic chick visual system, activity in the retina
before vision has been implicated in the refinement of retinotopic
maps, the elimination of transient projections, and the survival of a
full complement of neurons. In this study, we report the detection of a
physiological substrate for these phenomena: waves of spontaneous
activity in the ganglion cell layer of the embryonic chick retina. The
activity is robust and highly patterned, taking the form of large
amplitude, rhythmic, and wide-ranging waves of excitation that
propagate across the retina. Activity waves are most prominent and
organized between embryonic days 13-18, coinciding with the
developmental period during which retinal axons refine their
connections in their targets. The spatial and temporal features of the
patterns observed are consistent with the role of activity patterns in
shaping eye-specific projections and retinotopic maps but inconsistent
with the hypothesis that they specify lamina-specific projections in
the tectum. Antagonists of glutamatergic and glycinergic transmission
and of gap junctional communication suppress spontaneous activity,
whereas antagonists to GABAergic transmission potentiate it. Based on
these results, we propose that spontaneous activity in the ganglion
cells is regulated by chemical inputs from both bipolar and amacrine
cells and by gap junctional coupling involving ganglion cells.
Key words:
synchronized activity; chick visual system; ganglion
cells; correlated activity; retinal waves; bursting activity
Copyright © 1998 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/98/18218839-14$05.00/0
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