Encoding of luminance and contrast by linear and nonlinear synapses in the retina
- Authors
- Odermatt, B., Nikolaev, A., and Lagnado, L.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-120301-11
- Date
- 2012
- Source
- Neuron 73(4): 758-773 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Lagnado, Leon, Odermatt, Benjamin
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Light
- Synaptic Transmission/genetics
- Synaptic Transmission/physiology*
- Contrast Sensitivity/physiology*
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/metabolism
- Calcium Signaling/genetics
- Calcium Signaling/physiology
- Retina/cytology*
- Synapses/physiology*
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Animals, Genetically Modified
- Embryo, Nonmammalian
- Models, Neurological*
- Animals
- Pineal Gland/metabolism
- Photic Stimulation
- Sensory Receptor Cells/physiology*
- Zebrafish
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism
- Carrier Proteins/genetics
- Carrier Proteins/metabolism
- DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics
- DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism
- Nonlinear Dynamics
- Luminescence*
- PubMed
- 22365549 Full text @ Neuron
Understanding how neural circuits transmit information is technically challenging because the neural code is contained in the activity of large numbers of neurons and synapses. Here, we use genetically encoded reporters to image synaptic transmission across a population of sensory neurons—bipolar cells in the retina of live zebrafish. We demonstrate that the luminance sensitivities of these synapses varies over 104 with a log-normal distribution. About half the synapses made by ON and OFF cells alter their polarity of transmission as a function of luminance to generate a triphasic tuning curve with distinct maxima and minima. These nonlinear synapses signal temporal contrast with greater sensitivity than linear ones. Triphasic tuning curves increase the dynamic range over which bipolar cells signal light and improve the efficiency with which luminance information is transmitted. The most efficient synapses signaled luminance using just 1 synaptic vesicle per second per distinguishable gray level.