Ll). A ganglion cell could obtain sign-inverting synapse from an amacrine cell as an alternative of bipolar cell since it has beenAddress correspondence to this author in the Division of Physiology, Healthcare Phaculty, Healthcare University, 1431 Sofia, Nation Bulgaria; Tel: +35929172543; Mobile: +359887480853; Fax: +35929520345; E-mail: [email protected] 1570-159X/14 58.00+.demonstrated by recordings of amacrine anglion cell pairs 60-19-5 custom synthesis Inside the carp [15]. Since the latter amacrine cells carry signals across the ON/OFF boundary with the inner plexiform layer, the inhibition they exert is referred as “crossover inhibition” [16]. Different kinds of inhibitory interactions between the ON and OFF channels happen to be described soon after the discovery that glutamate analog 2-amino-4phosphonobutyric acid (APB or L-AP4) eliminates the responses of ON, but not OFF bipolar cells and hence can separate the activity on the two channels [17]. Along with inhibitory interactions, a kind of excitatory influences among the ON and OFF channels, that is normally revealed right after blockade in the GABAergic transmission, has also been reported. This overview summarizes present information concerning the sorts of interactions among the ON and OFF channels in distal and proximal retina in both nonmammalian and mammalian species and the involvement on the GABAergic and glycinergic systems in these interactions. 2. ORIGIN OF RETINAL ON AND OFF CHANNELS The ON-OFF segregation starts in the very first synapse inside the retina, exactly where glutamate released from photoreceptors acts on diverse varieties of glutamate receptors on bipolar cells. The depolarizing (ON) bipolar cells express metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR6), although the hyperpolarizing (OFF) bipolar cells express ionotropic (AMPA/kainate) glutamate receptors [18-23]. Within the dark, glutamate released from photoreceptors depolarizes OFF bipolar cells by way of activation of an ionotropic glutamate receptor, whereas glutamate hyperpolarizes ON bipolar cells through activation of mGluR6 with a lower in cationic conductance [19, 24, 25] (Fig. 1). Metabotropic glutamate receptor mGluR6 is known as the APB or L-AP4 receptor, since it is selectively agonized by L-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB or L-AP4). The receptors have been identified in the014 Bentham Science Publishers510 Existing Neuropharmacology, 2014, Vol. 12, No.Elka PopovaFig. (1). Glutamate transduction mechanisms in ON and OFF bipolar cells. Within the dark, glutamate released from photoreceptors hyperpolarizes ON bipolar cell by means of activation of mGluR6 that in turn by way of G protein causes closure of TRPM1 channel and also a lower in cationic conductance (left, leading). Inside the dark, glutamate depolarizes OFF bipolar cell through activation of an ionotropic glutamate AMPA/ kainite receptor that in turn causes an increase in cationic conductance (right, leading). Light diminishes the glutamate release from photoreceptors, which causes depolarization on the ON bipolar cell (left, bottom) and hyperpolarization with the OFF bipolar cell (right bottom).ON BCs of all vertebrate species investigated so far [amphibians: [26, 27]; rodents: [20, 28, 29]; cats, monkeys: [30]]. Binding of glutamate to these receptors activates the G protein Go [31-35] that leads to closure of a constitutively active nonselective cation channel, identified as transient receptor potential melastatin 1 (TRPM1) [36-39]. It has been shown that the ON bipolar cells usually do not response to light and there isn’t any ERG b-wave in TRPM1-/- mice [37,.