Center-surround interactions underlie bipolar cell motion sensitivity in the mouse retina

Motion sensing is a critical aspect of vision. We studied the representation of motion in mouse retinal bipolar cells and found that some bipolar cells are radially direction selective, preferring the origin of small object motion trajectories. Using a glutamate sensor, we directly observed bipolar cells synaptic output and found that there are radial direction selective and non-selective bipolar cell types, the majority being selective, and that radial direction selectivity relies on properties of the center-surround receptive field. We used these bipolar cell receptive fields along with connectomics to design biophysical models of downstream cells. The models and additional experiments demonstrated that bipolar cells pass radial direction selective excitation to starburst amacrine cells, which contributes to their directional tuning. As bipolar cells provide excitation to most amacrine and ganglion cells, their radial direction selectivity may contribute to motion processing throughout the visual system.

Automated summary

Motion sensing is a crucial aspect of vision. Research on mouse retinal bipolar cells has revealed the presence of radial direction selectivity, with some cells preferring the origin of small object motion trajectories. This selectivity relies on the properties of the center-surround receptive field. By studying these cells and using connectomics, biophysical models were developed to understand how their selectivity contributes to downstream cells. It was found that bipolar cells pass radial direction selective excitation to starburst amacrine cells, contributing to their directional tuning and potentially impacting motion processing throughout the visual system.