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Expression of Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors by Bipolar, Amacrine, and Ganglion Cells of the Rabbit Retina

Nina A. Dmitrieva, Christianne E. Strang and Kent T. Keyser

Department of Vision Sciences and the Vision Science Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama

Correspondence to: Kent T. Keyser, PhD, Vision Science Research Center, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, WORB, 626 Birmingham, AL 35294-4390. E-mail: ktkeyser{at}uab.edu

Cholinergic agents affect the light responses of many ganglion cells (GCs) in the mammalian retina by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Whereas retinal neurons that express ß2 subunit-containing nAChRs have been characterized in the rabbit retina, expression patterns of other nAChR subtypes remain unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the expression of 7 nAChRs in retinal neurons by means of single-, double-, and triple-label immunohistochemistry. Our data demonstrate that, in the rabbit retina, several types of bipolar cells, amacrine cells, and cells in the GC layer express 7 nAChRs. At least three different populations of cone bipolar cells exhibited 7 labeling, whereas glycine-immunoreactive amacrine cells comprised the majority of 7-positive amacrine cells. Some GABAergic amacrine cells also displayed 7 immunoreactivity; 7 labeling was never detected in rod bipolar cells or rod amacrine cells (AII amacrine cells). Our data suggest that activation of 7 nAChRs by acetylcholine (ACh) or choline may affect glutamate release from several types of cone bipolar cells, modulating GC responses. ACh-induced excitation of inhibitory amacrine cells might cause either inhibition or disinhibition of other amacrine and GC circuits. Finally, ACh may act on 7 nAChRs expressed by GCs themselves. (J Histochem Cytochem 55:461–476, 2007)

Key Words: cholinergic cells • immunohistochemistry • glycinergic cells • GABA • kinesin • synaptophysin • PSD-95 • -bungarotoxin

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