Multi-compartment model associated with Werginz et al. - Differential intrinsic firing properties in sustained and transient mouse αRGCs match their light response characteristics and persist during retinal degeneration
Model to simulate neuronal responses in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to intracellular current injections including simple plot functions. The model is the basis for modeling figure 4 in Werginz et al. (10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1592-24.2024). Functionality includes running a specified model RGC and plotting spiking output (e.g., membrane voltage over time) but does not perform threshold searching or other, more complex, analysis.
Context and methodology
Models of mouse retinal ganglion cells based on 3d tracings of reconstructed cells. Reconstructed cells are based on intracellular Neurobiotin fills, fixation, immunohistochemistry followed by confocal imaging and tracing.
Intracellular stimulation can be applied to test the effect of cell morphology on spiking threshold and spike shape.
Technical details
Model has been tested in Python 3.13.5 with NEURON (https://neuron.yale.edu/neuron/)
.mod files in the nrn folder must be compiled prior to run the model using NEURON's mknrndll
Electrophysiological parameters of model RGCs can be modified in rgcTemplate_2010_.py
If help is needed feel free to reach out to Paul Werginz
Data is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), software is licensed under a MIT License.
Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the neuronal connections between the eye and the brain conveying multiple features of the outside world through parallel pathways. While there is a large body of literature on how these pathways arise in the retinal network, the process of converting presynaptic inputs into RGC spiking output is little understood. In this study, we show substantial differences in the spike generator across three types of αRGCs in female and male mice, the αON sustained, αOFF sustained, and αOFF transient RGC. The differences in their intrinsic spiking responses match the differences in the light responses across RGC types. While sustained RGC types have spike generators that are able to generate sustained trains of action potentials at high rates, the transient RGC type fired shortest action potentials enabling it to fire high-frequency transient bursts. The observed differences were also present in late-stage photoreceptor-degenerated retina demonstrating long-term functional stability of RGC responses even when presynaptic circuitry is deteriorated for long periods of time. Our results demonstrate that intrinsic cell properties support the presynaptic retinal computation and are, once established, independent of them.
