Considerable theoretical and experimental effort has been dedicated to understanding how neural circuits detect visual motion. In primates, much is known about the cortical circuits that contribute to motion processing, but the role of the retina in this fundamental neural computation is poorly understood. Here, we used a combination of extracellular and whole-cell recording to test for motion sensitivity in the two main classes of output neurons in the primate retina—midget (parvocellular-projecting) and parasol (magnocellular-projecting) ganglion cells. We report that parasol, but not midget, ganglion cells are motion sensitive. This motion sensitivity is present in synaptic excitation and disinhibition from presynaptic bipolar cells and amacrine cells, respectively. Moreover, electrical coupling between neighboring bipolar cells and the nonlinear nature of synaptic release contribute to the observed motion sensitivity. Our findings indicate that motion computations arise far earlier in the primate visual stream than previously thought.

中文翻译：

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介导灵长类视网膜副神经节细胞运动敏感性的神经机制

大量的理论和实验努力致力于理解神经回路如何检测视觉运动。在灵长类动物中，人们对有助于运动处理的皮层回路了解很多，但对视网膜在这种基本神经计算中的作用却知之甚少。在这里，我们结合使用细胞外和全细胞记录来测试灵长类动物视网膜中两类主要输出神经元的运动敏感性——侏儒（细小细胞投射）和伞状（大细胞投射）神经节细胞。我们报告说，阳伞神经节细胞对运动敏感，但侏儒则不然。这种运动敏感性分别存在于突触前双极细胞和无长突细胞的突触兴奋和去抑制中。此外，相邻双极细胞之间的电耦合和突触释放的非线性性质有助于观察到的运动敏感性。我们的研究结果表明，运动计算在灵长类动物视觉流中的出现比之前想象的要早得多。