Structural Diversity of Mitochondria and Quantification of Synaptic Vesicles from Different Neuron Types in the Simplex Retina of Little Skate
By: Justin Mai
Department: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ivan A. Anastassov
The elasmobranch fish Leucoraja erinacea (little skate) has a pure-rod retina capable of functioning across scotopic and photopic lighting conditions. We know little about the structure and diversity of organelles in skate retinal neurons. Quantification and composition of different synaptic vesicle populations in skate rods is also lacking. Here, we describe the structural diversity of mitochondria in skate photoreceptor, bipolar, and horizontal cells. Further, we perform detailed quantifications of mitochondria and synaptic vesicles in rods and determine the proportion of ribbon-docked synaptic vesicles in rod terminals in order to elucidate cell characteristics associated with functional plasticity in skate retina.