Abstract
RECENT electrophysiological and morphological studies strongly suggest that the synaptic transmission between photoreceptors and horizontal cells in the vertebrate retina is chemical in nature, although the anatomical appearance of the neuronal contacts does not strictly conform to that of conventional chemical synapses1–3. It has been shown that changes in the ionic composition of the extracellular medium, such as lowering calcium, increasing magnesium or adding cobalt, that in the chemical synapses are known to block the release of transmitter4,5, abolish the response to light of horizontal cells without reducing that of photo-receptors6–8. The present report provides additional evidence that the synapses between photoreceptors and horizontal cells have properties characteristics of conventional chemical synapses. It is known that in the chemically transmitting synapse, strontium ions can substitute calcium ions in the process of transmitter release9–11. I have studied the effects of calcium–strontium substitution on the intracellularly recorded responses to light of horizontal cells and cones in the retina of the turtle (Pseudemys scripta elegans).
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PICCOLINO, M. Strontium–calcium substitution in synaptic transmission in turtle retina. Nature 261, 504–505 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261504a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261504a0
