Retina Journey: Bipolar Cell Trivia

 

Bipolar cells are communication facilitators between the photoreceptors and the ganglion cells. They are called “bipolar” because of their shape – a soma with two sets of processes, each emerging from opposite “poles” on the cell body.

Bipolar cells receive signals from either rods or cones, and also receive signals from horizontal cells. They then pass this information on to ganglion cells, either directly or via amacrine cells. These cell types are unique in that they use graded potentials, signals that vary in strength depending on input received, rather than action potentials, which release the same strength signal every time a certain threshold of input is received.

There are currently 15 known types of bipolar cells in the mouse retina. They are generally classed as rod or cone types, with the vast majority being associated with cone cells. In fact, only 2 of the 15 types synapse with rod cells, while the rest of the types are dedicated to the cones. While rod bipolar cells receive input from multiple rod cells, for cone bipolars it’s actually the opposite. There is at least a 1-to-1 relationship a cone cell and its downstream bipolar cell, and in many cases cones feed information to multiple cone bipolar cells.

In more recent years, some “rule breakers” have also been discovered – bipolar cells with mixed signal input from both rods and cones. We expect to learn more about what these cells do in the future, as our scientific knowledge expands!

And speaking of expanding knowledge, it’s nearly time for our Trivia Power Hour!

Trivia How-To:

The bot will start firing off questions at 11:00 AM ET on Tuesday 6/24 and will run for 1 hour.

Submit your answers by typing them into the chat box. Optional: you may submit answers privately by messaging @inquizitor if you do not want other players to see your responses. To do this, type /pm inquizitor before your message.

Bonus info is available in your in-game notifications. Good luck!