Distribution of gap junctions in the chicken retina.

Abstract

Coupling between cells of neuronal tissue can be due to electrical or chemical synapses. The molecular basis of an electrical synapse is the gap junction channel. Gap junctions have been found between neurones and glial cells, however, in some tissue their presence in the membranes of different cell types is still under discussion. In the retina of vertebrates, which is a true part of the CNS, the presence of gap junctions in the specialised glial cells of the retina, the Müller cells is not clear for chicken. Since these cells span the whole retina vertically, for some tasks, like spatial buffering of potassium, such gap junctions would not be required, in contrast to other parts of the CNS. The spatial buffering of potassium among others plays an important role in the propagation of excitation-depression waves in neuronal tissue, especially in the chicken retina. However, gap junctions could be involved in creating an electrical syncitium of glial cells, which might also contribute to excitation-depression wave propagation. In this paper we present an about complete screening of the presence of gap junctions in the chicken retina, including the proof that the Müller cells of this retina do not have gap junctions. This finding is discussed considering the highly specialised morphological structure of the Müller cells of the chicken retina, which have an extremely extended endfeet tree.