Membrane properties of rat retinal ganglion cells during postnatal development / 第三军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the membrane properties of rat retinal ganglion cells during postnatal development, including the passive membrane properties and the action potentials evoked by depolarizing current injections and the relationship between the membrane properties and ages. Methods Whole cell patch clamp recordings of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in retinal slices of postnatal rats (age ranging from postnatal days 7 to 30) were performed. Results (1) A total of 112 RGCs were recorded from postnatal rats. (2) The electrophysiological properties of RGCs changed significantly during development. The excitability of RGCs increased in an age-dependent manner. There was significant difference between before-eye-opening group(P7-13d) and after-eye-opening group(P14-30d) . (3) Three different discharge patterns of RGCs in response to sustained depolarizing current pulses were recorded: single-spike firing, transient firing and sustained firing. During development, retinal ganglion cells of rats exhibited pronounced changes in the discharge patterns(P