Journal
VISUAL NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 28, Issue 6, Pages 453-471Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0952523811000356
Keywords
Cone; Rod; Outer retina; Neurotransmission; Cytoskeleton
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Funding
- Research to Prevent Blindness, NIH [EY10542]
- University of Nebraska Medical Center
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Rod and cone photoreceptors possess ribbon synapses that assist in the transmission of graded light responses to second-order bipolar and horizontal cells of the vertebrate retina. Proper functioning of the synapse requires the juxtaposition of presynaptic release sites immediately adjacent to postsynaptic receptors. In this review, we focus on the synaptic, cytoskeletal, and extracellular matrix proteins that help to organize photoreceptor ribbon synapses in the outer plexiform layer. We examine the proteins that foster the clustering of release proteins, calcium channels, and synaptic vesicles in the presynaptic terminals of photoreceptors adjacent to their postsynaptic contacts. Although many proteins interact with one another in the presynaptic terminal and synaptic cleft, these protein-protein interactions do not create a static and immutable structure. Instead, photoreceptor ribbon synapses are remarkably dynamic, exhibiting structural changes on both rapid and slow time scales.
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