Analyzing Amacrine and Ganglion Cell Structure and Connectivity in the Simplex Retina of the Leucoraja erinacea
Louie Jackson
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Ivan Anastassov
Analyzing amacrine and ganglion cell structure and diversity as well as synapse quantification in the single light sensitive cell retina of the little skate. I will be conducting a pre- and post- segmentation analysis on electron microscopy data imaging through Pyreconstruct to create three dimensional reconstructions of amacrine and ganglion cells in order to create an atlas on these particular cells, as well as perform a quantitative analysis on chemical and electrical synaptic input on the processes of these cells. My interest in the Little Skate and its simplex retina is to understand the morphological and evolutionary transformations that this model organism has exhibited. With the Leucoraja erinacea containing a single photoreceptor cell type retina while containing the functionalities of a duplex retina, we collectively aim to further our understanding vertebrate simplex retinal systems through investigating the pure-rod retina of the little skate. To bridge this gap in knowledge we approached this model organism through conventional methodology. Through this I aim to define the ultrastructural anatomical properties of both ganglion and amacrine cells through digital three-dimensional reconstructions of these neuronal cells.