Refinement mechanism of primal visual processing in mouse retina

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24659038
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biological pharmacy
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: KOIKE Chieko 立命館大学, 薬学部, 准教授 (80342723)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SATOSHI Konishi 立命館大学, 理工学部, 教授 (50288627) ; WATARU Tonomura 立命館大学, 理工学部, 助教 (50581493) ; AKIRA Amano 立命館大学, 生命科学部, 教授 (60252491) ; KAZUHIRO Shimonomura 立命館大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (80397679)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚 / 電気生理学 / マルチ電極アレイ / 網膜 / 神経回路

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The retinal photoreceptors convert light into electrical signals that are processed by the sequential retinal layers and the ganglion cells. Electroretinogram (ERG) procedure is useful to obtain neuronal electrical activities from the retina. Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) can detect light responses from the isolated retina that have advantages to analyze ganglion cell functions in addition to micro ERG.
In order to directly and spatially stimulate and record multisite electrical responses of the inside retina, we have developed spatially arranged microelectrodes using the wire bonding based probe technology. Both 2D and 3D microelectrodes were designed in a chip to make a comparison between ERG recorded by the fabricated microelectrode probes and conventional planar microelectrodes. The typical signals were successfully detected in 3D microelectrode. These results suggest that the gold microelectrode probe arrays are applicable to retina experiments as a new analysis tool.

Free Research Field

神経科学