Maturation of intrinsic membrane properties in rat retinal ganglion cells

In view of the prominent role of voltage-activated conductances in both neu ronal differentiation and signal transmission, the present study describes developmental alterations of ion channel properties during the functional m aturation of rat RGCs, i.e., between embryonic day 15 when RGCs start to di fferentiate (E15) and postnatal day 35 (P35) when the retina is fully devel oped and the animals had already visual input for about 2 weeks. While the sodium system seems to reach maturity already at the end of the second post natal week, significant alterations in the potassium system were found only from postnatal day 10 on. The functional implications of these alterations are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.