Liang Liang, Chen Chinfei
Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; email:
Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA; email:
Annu Rev Vis Sci. 2020 Sep 15;6:261-285. doi: 10.1146/annurev-vision-121219-081753.
Visual information is encoded in distinct retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types in the eye tuned to specific features of the visual space. These streams of information project to the visual thalamus, the first station of the image-forming pathway. In the mouse, this connection between RGCs and thalamocortical neurons, the retinogeniculate synapse, has become a powerful experimental model for understanding how circuits in the thalamus are constructed to process these incoming lines of information. Using modern molecular and genetic tools, recent studies have suggested a more complex circuit organization than was previously understood. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the structural and functional organization of the retinogeniculate synapse in the mouse. We discuss a framework by which a seemingly complex circuit can effectively integrate and parse information to downstream stations of the visual pathway. Finally, we review how activity and visual experience can sculpt this exquisite connectivity.
视觉信息在眼睛中由不同类型的视网膜神经节细胞（RGC）进行编码，这些细胞针对视觉空间的特定特征进行调谐。这些信息流投射到视觉丘脑，即成像通路的第一站。在小鼠中，RGC与丘脑皮质神经元之间的这种连接，即视网膜膝状体突触，已成为理解丘脑回路如何构建以处理这些传入信息线路的强大实验模型。利用现代分子和遗传工具，最近的研究表明其电路组织比以前所理解的更为复杂。在本综述中，我们总结了目前对小鼠视网膜膝状体突触结构和功能组织的理解。我们讨论了一个框架，通过该框架一个看似复杂的电路可以有效地整合信息并将其解析到视觉通路的下游站点。最后，我们回顾了活动和视觉体验如何塑造这种精确的连接性。
