PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - P de la Villa
AU  - T Kurahashi
AU  - A Kaneko
TI  - L-glutamate-induced responses and cGMP-activated channels in three subtypes of retinal bipolar cells dissociated from the cat
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.15-05-03571.1995
DP  - 1995 May 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3571--3582
VI  - 15
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/15/5/3571.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/15/5/3571.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1995 May 01; 15
AB  - Effects of L-glutamate (Glu), the neurotransmitter released by photoreceptors, on isolated cat bipolar cells were examined. Membrane currents of bipolar cells were recorded by the patch-clamp technique in a conventional whole-cell recording configuration using pipettes containing 1 mM cGMP, which has been known to activate a cationic current sensitive to Glu in ON-type bipolar cells. ON-type bipolar cells (depolarized by light in in situ) and OFF-type bipolar cells (hyperpolarized by light) were identified by their response polarity to Glu. When the whole-cell configuration was established, ON-type bipolar cells showed a steady inward current which was suppressed by Glu, consistent with the response polarity observed in in situ recordings. In contrast, OFF-type cells did not show a steady current during the recordings. However, they responded to Glu with an increase in cationic conductance. Among recorded cells, rod-driven bipolar cells were identified by their immunoreactivity to anti-protein kinase C (PKC-IR) antibody. Examination of PKC-IR revealed that ON-type bipolar cells included both rod- and cone-driven bipolar cells, while OFF-type cells were all cone-driven bipolar cells. The cGMP-activated current observed in ON-type cells was accompanied by a change in the current fluctuation due to the opening and closing of underlying channels. Fluctuation analysis gave a unitary conductance value of 13 pS. In half of the cells examined, maximum open probability reached almost 100%. The cGMP- activated channel in bipolar cells seems novel, fundamentally different from those found in photoreceptor cells or olfactory receptor cells.