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Response dynamics of bullfrog ON-OFF RGCs to different stimulus durations

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Abstract

Stimulus duration is an important feature of visual stimulation. In the present study, response properties of bullfrog ON-OFF retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in exposure to different visual stimulus durations were studied. By using a multi-electrode recording system, spike discharges from ON-OFF RGCs were simultaneously recorded, and the cells’ ON and OFF responses were analyzed. It was found that the ON response characteristics, including response latency, spike count, as well as correlated activity and relative latency between pair-wise cells, were modulated by different light OFF intervals, while the OFF response characteristics were modulated by different light ON durations. Stimulus information carried by the ON and OFF responses was then analyzed, and it was found that information about different light ON durations was more carried by transient OFF response, whereas information about different light OFF intervals were more carried by transient ON response. Meanwhile, more than 80 % information about stimulus durations was carried by firing rate. These results suggest that ON-OFF RGCs are sensitive to different stimulus durations, and they can efficiently encode the information about visual stimulus duration by firing rate.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Xin-Wei Gong and Hai-Qing Gong for important technical assitance. This work was supported by grants from National Foundation of Natural Science of China (No. 61075108, P.J.L.; No. 61375114, P.M.Z; No. 91132702, S.W.) and Graduate Student Innovation Ability Training Special Fund of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (L.X.).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Lei Xiao, Pu-Ming Zhang & Pei-Ji Liang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Si Wu

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  1. Lei Xiao
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Xiao, L., Zhang, PM., Wu, S. et al. Response dynamics of bullfrog ON-OFF RGCs to different stimulus durations. J Comput Neurosci 37, 149–160 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10827-013-0492-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10827-013-0492-2

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