bioRxiv · 10.1101/214130
Two-stage adaptation of inhibition mediates predictive sensitization in the retina
Abstract
A critical function of the nervous system is the prediction of future sensory input. One such predictive computation is retinal sensitization, a form of short-term plasticity seen in multiple species that elevates local sensitivity following strong local stimulation. Here we perform a causal circuit analysis of retinal sensitization using simultaneous intracellular and multielectrode recording in the salamander. We show, using direct current injection into inhibitory sustained amacrine cells that a decrease in amacrine transmission is necessary, sufficient and occurs at the right time and manner to cause sensitization in ganglion cells. Because of neural dynamics and nonlinear pathways, a computational model is essential to explain how a change in steady inhibitory transmission causes sensitization. Whereas adaptation of excitation removes an expected result in order to transmit novelty, adaptation of inhibition provides a general mechanism to enhance the sensitivity to the sensory feature conveyed by an inhibitory pathway, creating a prediction of future input.
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Kastner, D. B., Panagiotakos, G., Ozuysal, Y., Baccus, S. A.. 2017-11-04. Two-stage adaptation of inhibition mediates predictive sensitization in the retina. https://doi.org/10.1101/214130
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