Summary
Recent morphologic and functional techniques for the study of nerve cells, such as intracellular injection and neurotransmitter immunohistochemistry, allow a new approach to the functional architecture of the retinal circuitry. Two types of dopaminergic cells are described: amacrine cells and interplexiform cells. These latter cells, which send processes to both the inner and outer plexiform layers, form a feedback loop acting the level of horizontal cell coupling. Two molecules localized in such cells, dopamine and GABA, have antagonistic effects on horizontal cell coupling and regulate the diameter of their receptive fields which code for contrast. Changes in the ERG, VEPs and contrast sensitivity occur in Parkinsonian patients and are identical to those observed in animal models whose dopaminergic retinal system has been destroyed, thus suggesting a degenerative process of this system in Parkinson's disease. The observation of dopamine neurons, labelled by their tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity, in the retina of 5 patients, led to the observation of reduced dopamine innervation in the central retina of Parkinsonian patients.
Résumé
Les nouvelles techniques morpho-fonctionnelles d'étude des cellules nerveuses, telles que l'injection intra-cellulaire et la mise en évidence immunohistochimique des neurotransmetteurs, permettent une nouvelle approche de l'architecture fonctionnelle des circuits rétiniens. Deux types de cellules dopaminergiques sont décrits: les cellules amacrines et les cellules interplexiformes. Ces dernières, qui possèdent des prolongements à la fois dans les couches plexiformes interne et externe, forment un circuit récurrent capable d'agir sur le couplage des cellules horizontales. Deux substances localisées dans de telles cellules, la dopamine et le GABA, ont une action antagoniste sur le couplage des cellules horizontales et contrôlent la taille de leurs champs récepteurs qui intervient dans le codage des contrastes. Des modifications de l'ERG, des PEVs et de la sensibilité au contraste sont enregistrés chez les Parkinsoniens. Ces modifications étant identiques à celles observées chez les modèles animaux dont le système dopaminergique rétinien a été détruit, suggèrent une dégénérescence de ce système dans la maladie de Parkinson. L'étude des neurones dopaminergiques, mis en évidence par immunohistochimie de la tyrosine hydroxylase, dans la rétine de 5 malades, a permis d'observer une diminution de l'innervation dopaminergique dans la rétine centrale des Parkinsoniens.
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Nguyen-Legros, J. Functional neuroarchitecture of the retina: hypothesis on the dysfunction of retinal dopaminergic circuitry in Parkinson's disease. Surg Radiol Anat 10, 137–144 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02307822
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02307822