# Rod and cone signaling pathways in mammalian retina

> **NIH NIH R01** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $192,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
In this competing renewal application, we propose to continue and extend our investigations on
rod and cone signaling pathways in the retina by focusing on synaptic circuits responsible for
receptive field (RF) organization in retinal ganglion cells (GCs). The goal is to understand the
space-time RF properties of different types of mouse GCs in scotopic and photopic conditions,
and to identify specific synaptic pathways underlying the adaptation-dependent differences in
GC RF profiles. There are two specific aims. The first aim will study linear space-time RF
profiles of various types of GCs in scotopic and photopic conditions, and to determine the
degrees of adaptation-dependent differences in each type of GCs, thereby obtaining a
comprehensive catalog of mouse GC types by correlating the spike responses to nonlinear
whole-field light steps, cell morphology and linear spatiotemporal receptive field (RF) and
mosaic profiles. The second aim will determine contributions of various rod and cone pathways
to the spatiotemporal RF profiles of the GCs, and to identify the roles of specific rod and cone
pathways in the adaptation-dependent RF differences of individual types of GCs. We will
employ the powerful, stable and high throughput multielectrode array (MEA) techniques and the
conventional single cell recording methods, in conjunction with the linear white-noise binary
checkerboard and the nonlinear whole-field light stimulus protocols to study the spatiotemporal
RF profiles of various types of GCs. Our research will provide important mechanistic insights
onto the spatiotemporal filtering capacity and RF organization of retinal GCs that can be used to
guide future investigations on circuit development and maintenance in healthy retinas, as well
as on retinal circuit dysfunctions under various diseased states such as retinitis pigmentosa,
congenital stationary night blindness and glaucoma. Knowledge obtained will be useful for
developing new gene/drug therapies for retinal disorders and for designing effective retinal
prosthetic devices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10164890
- **Project number:** 3R01EY019908-09S2
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Samuel M Wu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $192,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2010-01-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10164890

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10164890, Rod and cone signaling pathways in mammalian retina (3R01EY019908-09S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10164890. Licensed CC0.

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