Functional properties of a metabotropic glutamate receptor at dendritic synapses of ON bipolar cells in the amphibian retina.

Perforated patch-voltage and current-clamp recordings were obtained from ON bipolar cells in the amphibian retinal slice preparation. The currents produced by the photoreceptor transmitter were compared to the currents produced by selective metabotropic glutamate agonists: L-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (L-AP4, APB) and IS,3R 1-amino-1,3 cyclopentanedicarboxylic acid (1S, 3R ACPD). Both agonists produced currents that were very similar to that produced by the photoreceptor transmitter in terms of conductance and reversal potential. The similarities suggest that the metabotropic glutamate receptors are functionally localized to the synaptic region of ON bipolar dendrites. The synaptic conductance rarely exceeded the non-synaptic conductance. The mean input resistance of ON bipolar neurons was 770 M omega in the light and 1.2 G omega in the dark. The average light-regulated synaptic conductance was 57% of the non-synaptic conductance. The L-AP4 regulated conductance averaged 77% of the non-synaptic conductance, while the 1S, 3R ACPD regulated conductance averaged 95% of the non-synaptic conductance. This balance between synaptic and non-synaptic conductance indicates that the synapse will not shunt the cell and the conductance ratio serves to maximize incremental gain at the photoreceptor to ON bipolar synapse. This conductance mechanism makes the ON bipolar cell well equipped to relay rod signals.