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An in vitro study of retinotectal transmission in the chick: Role of glutamate and GABA in evoked field potentials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

J. C. Dye  and
H. J. Karten
J. C. Dye
Affiliation:
Department of Neurosciences, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla
H. J. Karten
Affiliation:
Department of Neurosciences, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla
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Abstract

We have developed two brain slice preparations for studying tectofugal visual pathways in the chick: conventional, 400-μm slices (“thin slices”), and “thick slices” which encompass the rostral pole of the optic tectum and the contralateral optic nerve. Stimulation was delivered with a bipolar electrode positioned in stratum opticum in thin slices and in the contralateral optic nerve in thick slices. While the latter preparation provided a means of exclusively and unambiguously activating retinal afferents, several lines of evidence also indicated that the evoked field potentials in thin slices were chiefly consequent to retinal afferent excitation: (1) the similarity of evoked field potentials in thin slices to those in thick slice preparations; (2) their precise localization in retinorecipient layers as shown by prelabeling from retina with FITC-coupled cholera toxin; (3) transmission delays appropriate for retinal afferents as established with the thick slice preparation; (4) patterns of labeled afferents resulting from applications of Dil crystals to slices fixed after recording; and (5) the similarity in transmitter pharmacology between thin and thick slice preparations. Pharmacological manipulations carried out with bath-applied antagonists indicated that glutamate is the principal retinotectal transmitter. The broadly active glutamate receptor blocker, kynurenic acid, reversibly eliminated the postsynaptic component of the field potential as confirmed with 0 Ca2+ saline. A complete block was also effected by the non-NMDA antagonists CNQX and DNQX. The specific NMDA antagonist, APS, caused a smaller and variable reduction in response amplitude. The GABA antagonist, bicuculline, caused a prolongation of the monosynaptic field epsp in retinorecipient layers and an enhancement of the long-latency, negative wave in cellular layers below, supporting a late, excitation-limiting role for this inhibitory transmitter.

Keywords

ChickOptic tectumRetinal ganglion cellSynaptic transmissionBrain sliceField potentialGlutamateGABA
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , July 1996 , pp. 747 - 758
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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