The photopigment melanopsin confers photosensitivity upon a minority of retinal output neurons. These intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are more diverse than once believed, comprising five morphologically distinct types, M1 through M5. Here, in mouse retina, we provide the first in-depth characterization of M4 cells, including their structure, function and central projections. M4 cells apparently correspond to ON alpha cells of earlier reports, and are easily distinguished from other ipRGCs by their very large somata. Their dendritic arbors are more radiate and highly branched than those of M1, M2 or M3 cells. The melanopsin-based intrinsic photocurrents of M4 cells are smaller than those of M1 and M2 cells, presumably because melanopsin is more weakly expressed; we can detect it immunohistochemically only with strong amplification. Like M2 cells, M4 cells exhibit robust, sustained synaptically-driven ON responses and dendritic stratification in the ON-sublamina of the IPL. However, their stratification patterns are subtly different, with M4 dendrites positioned just distal to those of M2 cells and just proximal to the ON cholinergic band. M4 receptive fields are large, with an ON center, antagonistic OFF surround, and non-linear spatial summation. Their synaptically-driven photoresponses lack direction selectivity and show higher ultraviolet sensitivity in the ventral retina than in the dorsal retina, echoing the topographic gradient in S- and M-cone opsin expression. M4 cells are readily labeled by retrograde transport from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, and thus likely contribute to the pattern vision that persists in mice lacking functional rods and cones.

Far from being a simple sensor, the retina actively participates in processing visual signals. One of the best understood aspects of this processing is the detection of motion direction. Direction-selective (DS) retinal circuits include several subtypes of ganglion cells (GCs) and inhibitory interneurons, such as starburst amacrine cells (SACs). Recent studies demonstrated a surprising complexity in the arrangement of synapses in the DS circuit, i.e. between SACs and DS ganglion cells. Thus, to fully understand retinal DS mechanisms, detailed knowledge of all synaptic elements involved, particularly the nature and localization of neurotransmitter receptors, is needed. Since inhibition from SACs onto DSGCs is crucial for generating retinal direction selectivity, we investigate here the nature of the GABA receptors mediating this interaction. We found that in the inner plexiform layer (IPL) of mouse and rabbit retina, GABAA receptor subunit α2 (GABAAR α2) aggregated in synaptic clusters along two bands overlapping the dendritic plexuses of both ON and OFF SACs. On distal dendrites of individually labeled SACs in rabbit, GABAAR α2 was aligned with the majority of varicosities, the cell's output structures, and found postsynaptically on DSGC dendrites, both in the ON and OFF portion of the IPL. In GABAAR α2 knock-out (KO) mice, light responses of retinal GCs recorded with two-photon calcium imaging revealed a significant impairment of DS responses compared to their wild-type littermates. We observed a dramatic drop in the proportion of cells exhibiting DS phenotype in both the ON and ON-OFF populations, which strongly supports our anatomical findings that α2-containing GABAARs are critical for mediating retinal DS inhibition. Our study reveals for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the precise functional localization of a specific receptor subunit in the retinal DS circuit.

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In the vertebrate retina, several dozens of parallel channels relay information about the visual world to the brain. These channels are represented by the different types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), whose responses are rendered selective for distinct sets of visual features by various mechanisms. These mechanisms can be roughly grouped into synaptic interactions and cell-intrinsic mechanisms, with the latter including dendritic morphology as well as ion channel complement and distribution. Here, we investigate how strongly ion channel complement can shape RGC output by comparing two mouse RGC types, the well-described ON alpha cell and a little-studied ON cell that is EGFP-labelled in the Igfbp5 mouse line and displays an unusual selectivity for high-contrast stimuli. Using patch-clamp recordings and computational modelling we show that in ON Igfbp5 cells - but not in the ON alpha cells - a higher activation threshold and a pronounced slow inactivation of the voltage-gated Na+ channels are responsible for the distinct contrast tuning and transient responses of ON Igfbp5 RGCs, respectively. This study provides an example for the powerful role that the last stage of retinal processing can play in shaping RGC responses.