The rod bipolar cell and about five types of ON cone bipolar cells dep
olarize to light by employing a sign-reversing metabotropic glutamate
receptor. Glutamate responses are similar in both rod bipolar and cone
bipolar cells, but the receptor mediating this response (mGluR6) was
so far demonstrated only in rod bipolar cells. To test if ON cone bipo
lar cells also express mGluR6, we immunoreacted rat retina with an ant
ibody specific for mGluR6, and studied the staining from serial ultrat
hin sections. We demonstrate that mGluR6 is indeed expressed in the de
ndritic tips of cone bipolar cells, the majority of which receive a ri
bbon synapse, and thus probably are ON cone bipolar cells. We further
show that half of the dendritic tips contacting the cones stain for mG
luR6, thus implying that all ON cone bipolar cell types express mGluR6
.