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No evidence of UV cone input to mono- and biphasic horizontal cells in the goldfish retina

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Abstract

Many animal species make use of ultraviolet (UV) light in a number of behaviors, such as feeding and mating. The goldfish (Carassius auratus) is among those with a UV photoreceptor and pronounced UV sensitivity. Little is known, however, about the retinal processing of this input. We addressed this issue by recording intracellularly from second-order neurons in the adult goldfish retina. In order to test whether cone-driven horizontal cells (HCs) receive UV cone inputs, we performed chromatic adaptation experiments with mono- and biphasic HCs. We found no functional evidence of a projection from the UV-sensitive cones to these neurons in adult animals. This suggests that goldfish UV receptors may contact preferentially triphasic HCs, which is at odds with the hypothesis that all cones contact all cone-driven HC types. However, we did find evidence of direct M-cone input to monophasic HCs, favoring the idea that cone–HC contacts are more promiscuous than originally proposed. Together, our results suggest that either UV cones have a more restricted set of post-synaptic partners than the other three cone types, or that the UV input to mono- and biphasic HCs is not very pronounced in adult animals.

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Abbreviations

ARVO:

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

BHC:

Biphasic horizontal cell

E k :

Equilibrium potential for K+ ions

HC:

Horizontal cell

L-cone:

Long-wavelength-sensitive cone

M-cone:

Middle-wavelength-sensitive cone

MHC:

Monophasic horizontal cell

S-cone:

Short-wavelength-sensitive cone

SBNeC:

Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior

THC:

Triphasic horizontal cell

UV:

Ultraviolet

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Maarten Kamermans (NIN, The Netherlands) for valuable discussions. This work was supported by FAPESP (07/54136-0, 96/12645-9 and 92/3498-1), CNPq (523303/95-5) and FINEP (66.94.0107.00). D.F.V. is a CNPq research fellow.

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  1. Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes 1721, bloco A, sala D-9, São Paulo, SP, 05508-030, Brazil

    Christina Joselevitch, John Manuel de Souza & Dora Fix Ventura

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  1. Christina Joselevitch
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  2. John Manuel de Souza
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Correspondence to Christina Joselevitch.

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Joselevitch, C., de Souza, J.M. & Ventura, D.F. No evidence of UV cone input to mono- and biphasic horizontal cells in the goldfish retina. J Comp Physiol A 196, 913–925 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0574-9

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