Molecular Biology of Retinal Ganglion Cells-Series II

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cells of the Nervous System".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2022) | Viewed by 3656

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Retinal Neurobiology Research Group, University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary
Interests: vision; retinal signal processing; ganglion cells; population coding; electrical synapses; parallel signaling; morphological/functional classification
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the successful publication of the first Special Issue of “Molecular Biology of Retinal Ganglion Cells”, we are very pleased to launched the new edition, which is dedicated to highlighting the recent development in this field.

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the output neurons of the vertebrate retina and, in addition to integrating information and passing it to target neurons in retinorecipient brain centers, these also perform a considerable amount of computation in order to encode signals into action potential trains. This mechanism requires the coordinated expression, activation, modulation, deactivation, and disintegration of molecules that partake in RGC signaling, homeostatic processes, the maintenance of cellular integrity, and the adaptation of cells to changing conditions. While many of these molecular constituents are generally expressed by most neurons in the central nervous system, the expression of others is characteristic of RGCs, and together they form the RGC molecular fingerprint. Besides pan-RGC molecules, the over 20 morphological/functional RGC subtypes may also express unique molecules or common molecules in unique combinations, thereby providing subtype specific molecular fingerprints that can be utilized for both identification and functional considerations. Such cellular fingerprints, however, are not ‘static’ but can change during development, at times of pathological insults, or even through normal functioning. This is the Series-2, a continuation of our Special Issue that aims to bring together both original research papers and review articles addressing the ever-growing field of the molecular biology of retinal ganglion cells. Our goal is to encourage scientists in this field to contribute to this Special Issue with their related work. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to): subtype-specific RGC marker molecules, molecules of RGC signaling, and disease-induced molecular changes.

Prof. Dr. Béla Völgyi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • ganglion cells
  • molecular phenotyping
  • intracellular cascade
  • signal processing
  • development
  • pathology
  • adaptation
  • circadian rhythm

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

21 pages, 4280 KiB  
Review
Transience of the Retinal Output Is Determined by a Great Variety of Circuit Elements
by Alma Ganczer, Gergely Szarka, Márton Balogh, Gyula Hoffmann, Ádám Jonatán Tengölics, Garrett Kenyon, Tamás Kovács-Öller and Béla Völgyi
Cells 2022, 11(5), 810; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11050810 - 25 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3325
Abstract
Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) encrypt stimulus features of the visual scene in action potentials and convey them toward higher visual centers in the brain. Although there are many visual features to encode, our recent understanding is that the ~46 different functional subtypes of [...] Read more.
Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) encrypt stimulus features of the visual scene in action potentials and convey them toward higher visual centers in the brain. Although there are many visual features to encode, our recent understanding is that the ~46 different functional subtypes of RGCs in the retina share this task. In this scheme, each RGC subtype establishes a separate, parallel signaling route for a specific visual feature (e.g., contrast, the direction of motion, luminosity), through which information is conveyed. The efficiency of encoding depends on several factors, including signal strength, adaptational levels, and the actual efficacy of the underlying retinal microcircuits. Upon collecting inputs across their respective receptive field, RGCs perform further analysis (e.g., summation, subtraction, weighting) before they generate the final output spike train, which itself is characterized by multiple different features, such as the number of spikes, the inter-spike intervals, response delay, and the rundown time (transience) of the response. These specific kinetic features are essential for target postsynaptic neurons in the brain in order to effectively decode and interpret signals, thereby forming visual perception. We review recent knowledge regarding circuit elements of the mammalian retina that participate in shaping RGC response transience for optimal visual signaling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Biology of Retinal Ganglion Cells-Series II)
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