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Shedding Light on Class-Specific Wiring: Development of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cell Circuitry

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Abstract

Neural circuits associated with retinal ganglion cells have long been used as models for investigating the mechanisms that govern circuit development and function. Similar to neurons in the brain, retinal ganglion cells are subdivided into distinct classes based upon their morphology, physiology, and patterns of connectivity. Newly developed transgenic tools in which individual classes of retinal ganglion cells are labeled with reporter proteins have recently provided a method to study the development of their class-specific circuitry. Here, we examine a single class of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and discuss their class-specific circuitry, as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern assembly of this circuitry.

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Acknowledgments

Work in our laboratories is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health [NIH; EY012716 (WG) and EY021222 (MAF)], the Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust (MAF), the A.D. Williams Fund (MAF), and the VCU Presidential Research Incentive Fund (MAF).

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  1. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980709, 1101 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Michael A. Fox & William Guido

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  1. Michael A. Fox
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  2. William Guido
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Correspondence to Michael A. Fox.

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Fox, M.A., Guido, W. Shedding Light on Class-Specific Wiring: Development of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cell Circuitry. Mol Neurobiol 44, 321–329 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-011-8199-8

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