Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammad Hossein Khani, Tim Gollisch
Summary: The study reveals that ganglion cells in mouse retina integrate chromatic visual signals either linearly or nonlinearly, with the nonlinear integration depending on rod photoreceptor activity and surround inhibition, and may help detect chromatic boundaries such as the skyline in natural scenes.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yunlu Xue, Xiaomei Sun, Sean K. Wang, Gayle B. Collin, Vladimir J. Kefalov, Constance L. Cepko
Summary: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an ocular disease characterized by the loss of night vision, followed by the loss of daylight vision. The timing of cone electroretinogram (ERG) decline in RP mouse models was investigated using physiological assays, and a correlation with the loss of rods was found. Abnormally high chromophore supply to cones upon the loss of rods is toxic to cones, suggesting a potential therapy in some forms of RP to slow down the turnover or reduce the level of visual chromophore in the retina.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Annia Abtout, Gordon Fain, Jurgen Reingruber
Summary: This study analyzed the contribution of various biological processes in the photoreceptor light response, finding that the shape of the response is controlled by deactivation parameters, while activation parameters scale the shape and affect the amplitude. The rising phase of the response is shown to depend on Ca2+ feedback, contrary to previous belief. New methods were devised to extract activation and deactivation rates from the analysis of response shape and amplitude.
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2021)
Article
Ophthalmology
Adam Davison, Kaspar Gierke, Johann Helmut Brandstaetter, Norbert Babai
Summary: This study investigated the functional and structural maturation of mouse cone photoreceptor ribbon synapses during postnatal development, as well as the role of synaptic ribbons in synaptic vesicle release. The presence of synaptic ribbons attenuated tonic synaptic vesicle release and amplified multiquantal release, but spontaneous release may not depend on synaptic ribbons or voltage-sensitive calcium channels.
INVESTIGATIVE OPHTHALMOLOGY & VISUAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Physiology
Norbert Babai, Julia von Wittgenstein, Kaspar Gierke, Johann Helmut Brandstaetter, Andreas Feigenspan
Summary: The study showed that impaired ribbon synapses significantly reduce signal transmission, including vesicle replenishment rates and the size of the readily releasable pool. The mutant Off cone bipolar cells exhibited a change in their response to light offset.
Review
Oncology
Davide Seruggia, Santiago Josa, Almudena Fernandez, Lluis Montoliu
Summary: The Tyr gene encodes tyrosinase and mutations may lead to albinism, highlighting the importance of analyzing non-coding regulatory DNA elements in their natural chromosomal environment.
PIGMENT CELL & MELANOMA RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hassan Rashidi, Yeh Chwan Leong, Kerrie Venner, Hema Pramod, Qi-Zhen Fei, Owen J. R. Jones, Dale Moulding, Jane C. Sowden
Summary: Retinal degenerative diseases are a major cause of blindness worldwide, but cell therapy shows promise in restoring and preserving sight. Researchers have successfully developed a large-scale retinal differentiation platform without the need for manual microdissection, and have generated retinal tissue using a stepwise differentiation protocol with small molecules.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Ivana Herrera, Jose Alex Lourenco Fernandes, Khatereh Shir-Mohammadi, Jasmine Levesque, Pierre Mattar
Summary: The study reveals that the nuclear lamina plays a role in genome organization during the degeneration of rod photoreceptors. The tethering of heterochromatin by proteins like LBR and LA affects genome accessibility, with a particular impact on stress-responsive genes.
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Na Young Jun, Greg D. Field, John Pearson
Summary: Optimal arrangement of ON and OFF receptive fields exhibits a transition between aligned and antialigned grids. The preferred phase depends on detector noise and the statistical structure of the natural stimuli. These results reveal that noise and stimulus statistics produce qualitative shifts in neural coding strategies.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
David Jimeno, Concepcion Lillo, Pedro de la Villa, Nuria Calzada, Eugenio Santos, Alberto Fernandez-Medarde
Summary: The study reveals that GRF2 and CDC42 play key roles in regulating nuclear positioning and survival of retinal cone photoreceptor cells, while RAC1 does not have a significant effect. These findings support the notion that loss-of-function mutations in GRF2 may be potential drivers of cone retinal dystrophies.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Luca Abballe, Hiroki Asari
Summary: The mouse retina has a unique organization with cone photoreceptors expressing different opsins in distinct spatial patterns. However, the dorsoventral functional division of the retina may not be optimal for maximizing information transmission, as indicated by differences in contrast and spatial correlation between UV and green light.
Article
Neurosciences
Victor J. DePiero, Bart G. Borghuis
Summary: The study found that neurons in the mouse retina counteract sensory delay by advancing the position encoding of a moving object. This predictive capability is a direct result of the spatial range of the cells' linear visual receptive field, without any specialized circuits to predict beyond it.
Article
Developmental Biology
Vismaya S. Bachu, Sangeetha Kandoi, Ko Uoon Park, Michael L. Kaufman, Michael Schwanke, Deepak A. Lamba, Joseph A. Brzezinski
Summary: Researchers have investigated the gene regulatory network that controls cone formation by studying active enhancers in mice and humans. They discovered that the Pde6c enhancer is involved in selecting or stabilizing cone fate and is regulated by multiple transcription factor families. These findings provide a framework for understanding the gene regulatory network of cone genesis in both species.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Joseph Pottackal, Joshua H. Singer, Jonathan B. Demb
Summary: The study showed that a presynaptic neuron can enhance its computational capacity by transmitting functionally distinct signals to different postsynaptic cell types, which is mainly determined by the presynaptic properties rather than the postsynaptic cells per se. This specialization of synaptic outputs could enhance parallel processing in a compact interneuron over fine spatial scales.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ophthalmology
Xufeng Dai, Xumin Jin, Qian Ye, Haixiao Huang, Lan Duo, Chunjie Lu, Jinhua Bao, Hao Chen
Summary: High expression of the RPE-specific RPE65 enzyme is crucial for generating 11-cis-retinal, a key component for vision. Deficiency in RPE65 can lead to severe retinal dysfunction, but early treatment with 11-cis-retinal in a mouse model shows promise in delaying cone degeneration and preserving retinal function.
EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Miroslav Roman Roson, Yannik Bauer, Ann H. Kotkat, Philipp Berens, Thomas Euler, Laura Busse
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Luke E. Rogerson, Zhijian Zhao, Katrin Franke, Thomas Euler, Philipp Berens
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biology
Katrin Franke, Andre Maia Chagas, Zhijian Zhao, Maxime J. Y. Zimmermann, Philipp Bartel, Yongrong Qiu, Klaudia P. Szatko, Tom Baden, Thomas Euler
Article
Neurosciences
Michael J. Power, Luke E. Rogerson, Timm Schubert, Philipp Berens, Thomas Euler, Francois Paquet-Durand
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2020)
Review
Neurosciences
Tom Baden, Thomas Euler, Philipp Berens
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Yongrong Qiu, Thomas Euler
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yanli Ran, Ziwei Huang, Tom Baden, Timm Schubert, Harald Baayen, Philipp Berens, Katrin Franke, Thomas Euler
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhijian Zhao, David A. Klindt, Andre Maia Chagas, Klaudia P. Szatko, Luke Rogerson, Dario A. Protti, Christian Behrens, Deniz Dalkara, Timm Schubert, Matthias Bethge, Katrin Franke, Philipp Berens, Alexander S. Ecker, Thomas Euler
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Klaudia P. Szatko, Maria M. Korympidou, Yanli Ran, Philipp Berens, Deniz Dalkara, Timm Schubert, Thomas Euler, Katrin Franke
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yongrong Qiu, Zhijian Zhao, David Klindt, Magdalena Kautzky, Klaudia P. Szatko, Frank Schaeffel, Katharina Rifai, Katrin Franke, Laura Busse, Thomas Euler
Summary: An experiment using UV-green-sensitive cameras to record footage from mouse habitats revealed significant differences in chromatic contrast between the upper and lower visual fields, suggesting that environmental influences play a key role in the adaptability of the mouse retina.
Article
Cell Biology
Soumyaparna Das, Valerie Popp, Michael Power, Kathrin Groeneveld, Jie Yan, Christian Melle, Luke Rogerson, Marlly Achury, Frank Schwede, Torsten Strasser, Thomas Euler, Francois Paquet-Durand, Vasilica Nache
Summary: This study suggests that the protective effect of calcium channel blockers on photoreceptors is questionable, and they may even lead to cell death. These findings are important for future therapy development, as alternative mechanisms unrelated to calcium ions may need to be considered.
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
F. K. Janiak, P. Bartel, M. R. Bale, T. Yoshimatsu, E. Komulainen, M. Zhou, K. Staras, L. L. Prieto-Godino, T. Euler, M. Maravall, T. Baden
Summary: This study presents a low-cost, easily implemented and flexible design for two-photon microscopy, expanding the 3D field of view and allowing the bending of imaging planes to follow natural curvatures in biological structures.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sarah Strauss, Maria M. Korympidou, Yanli Ran, Katrin Franke, Timm Schubert, Tom Baden, Philipp Berens, Thomas Euler, Anna L. Vlasits
Summary: Motion sensing is a crucial aspect of vision. Research on mouse retinal bipolar cells has revealed the presence of radial direction selectivity, with some cells preferring the origin of small object motion trajectories. This selectivity relies on the properties of the center-surround receptive field. By studying these cells and using connectomics, biophysical models were developed to understand how their selectivity contributes to downstream cells. It was found that bipolar cells pass radial direction selective excitation to starburst amacrine cells, contributing to their directional tuning and potentially impacting motion processing throughout the visual system.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Yongrong Qiu, David A. Klindt, Klaudia P. Szatko, Dominic Gonschorek, Larissa Hoefling, Timm Schubert, Laura Busse, Matthias Bethge, Thomas Euler
Summary: Neural system identification aims at learning neural response function using recorded data, but often neglects normative principles like efficient coding. We introduce a normative network regularization method and show that incorporating efficient coding improves system identification models for predicting retinal neuron responses to noise stimuli.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jonathan Oesterle, Christian Behrens, Cornelius Schroder, Thoralf Hermann, Thomas Euler, Katrin Franke, Robert G. Smith, Gunther Zeck, Philipp Berens