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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 15, 2002, 22(24):10509-10513

BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Starburst Cells Nondirectionally Facilitate the Responses of Direction-Selective Retinal Ganglion Cells

Chuan-Chin Chiao and Richard H. Masland

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114

The mechanism of direction selectivity in retinal ganglion cells remains controversial. An important issue is how the starburst amacrine cells, which are known to provide a major synaptic input to the direction-selective ganglion cells, participate in the directional discrimination. Here, we present evidence that the cholinergic outputs of the starburst cells affect the responses of the ganglion cells symmetrically; they provide a feedforward excitation that facilitates the response of the ganglion cells to movement in both the preferred and null directions. This seems to place a constraint on models of the directional discrimination in which the starburst cells participate, namely, that their cholinergic synapses be nondirectional in their effects on the ganglion cells.

Key words: retina; amacrine; starburst; acetylcholine; GABA; neurotransmitters

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Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/02/222410509-05$05.00/0

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