# The function of wide-field amacrine cells in mammalian retina

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · 2022 · $353,637

## Abstract

The trophoblast glycoprotein (TPBG, aka oncofaeto protein, 5T4) is restrictively expressed in adult retina
in rod bipolar cell and the wide-field GABAergic ON/OFF amacrine cell, TH2-AC. Knocking out the Tpbg
gene in mice does not alter scotopic or photopic ERG responses but photopic contrast sensitivity was
enhanced, indicating that TPBG in TH2-AC participates in retinal information processing through
unidentified mechanism. We have found that TH2-AC intrinsic excitability is enhanced in the absence of
TPBG. We hypothesize that TPBG regulates TH2-AC excitability and that TH2-AC regulates retinal circuits
responsible for contrast and/or motion encoding. Given that amacrine cell is the most diverse but lthe
east understood retinal neuron thus far, studying TPBG in TH2-AC provides a rare opportunity to
understand how wide-field amacrine cell works in the mammalian retina. We will use mouse genetics
and electrophysiological approaches to 1) Use the DATIRESCre driver mouse line to manipulate TH2-AC to
understand the molecular and cellular basis of the enhanced photopic contrast sensitivity phenotype of
the Tpbg knockout animals (Aim-1) and 2) Genetically and/or virally ablate TH2-AC from retina to study
how retinal contrast and motion encoding are affected at the behavioral level by OKR and at the cellular
level in TH2-AC’s eight postsynaptic RGC partners (Aim-2). Completion of these independent aims will
lead to a better understanding on how a wide-field amacrine cell works in a mammalian retina.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10863459
- **Project number:** 7R01EY034219-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Ching-Kang Jason Chen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $353,637
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10863459

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10863459, The function of wide-field amacrine cells in mammalian retina (7R01EY034219-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10863459. Licensed CC0.

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