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Bipolar cell pathways for color and luminance vision in a dichromatic mammalian retina

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 669–675 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The mammalian retina is fundamentally dichromatic, with trichromacy only recently emerging in some primates. In dichromats, an array of short wavelength–sensitive (S, blue) and middle wavelength–sensitive (M, green) cones is sampled by approximately ten bipolar cell types, and the sampling pattern determines how retinal ganglion cells and ultimately higher visual centers encode color and luminance. By recording from cone–bipolar cell pairs in the retina of the ground squirrel, we show that the bipolar cell types sample cone signals in three ways: one type receives input exclusively from S-cones, two types receive mixed S/M-cone input and the remaining types receive an almost pure M-cone signal. Bipolar cells that carry S- or M-cone signals can have a role in color discrimination and may contact color-opponent ganglion cells. Bipolar cells that sum signals from S- and M-cones may signal to ganglion cells that encode luminance.

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Figure 1: Properties of the S-cone Ca2+ current.
Figure 2: Reconstructions of dye-filled bipolar cells arranged according to the level of axon terminal ramification.
Figure 3: S-cone bipolar cells exclusively contact S-cones.
Figure 4: Synapses between S-cones and b2 bipolar cells.
Figure 5: Synapses between S-cones and b5 bipolar cells.
Figure 6: Examples of cone bipolar cells that did not contact S-cones within their dendritic fields.
Figure 7: Bipolar cells that respond to the depolarization of an M-cone but not an S-cone located within their dendritic fields.
Figure 8: Summary of the anatomical data.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank S. Massey, J. Singer, S. Saszik and A. Light for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by US National Institutes of Health grant (EY12141), a Research to Prevent Blindness grant to S.H.D. and a Fight For Sight Fellowship to W.L.

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  1. Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology, Northwestern University Medical School, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Tarry 5-715, Chicago, 60611, Illinois, USA

    Wei Li & Steven H DeVries

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Correspondence to Wei Li.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Morphological consistency of identified bipolar cell types. (PDF 403 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Diagram of S- and M-cone inputs to different bipolar cell pathways. (PDF 1170 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 68 kb)

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Li, W., DeVries, S. Bipolar cell pathways for color and luminance vision in a dichromatic mammalian retina. Nat Neurosci 9, 669–675 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1686

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