Abstract
Activation of glutamate receptors is critical for the initiation of synaptic plasticity. Although ontogenic expression of ionotropic glutamate receptors has only been recently characterized in the rat retina, glutamate and glutamate receptors have long been suggested to regulate the development of retinal neurons. The function of NMDA glutamate receptors has been associated with visual experience in the developing rat retina; however, the light-dependent regulation of the subunit composition of NMDA glutamate receptors remains controversial. In this study, I first examined the expression patterns of AMPA receptors, which are the most prominent glutamate receptors in the retina, and functionally mapped glutamatergic drive in the developing rabbit retina. Then, I characterized the functional expression of NMDA receptors in the developing rabbit retina, and examined the impact of light deprivation on regulation of the subunit composition of NMDA receptors. The results revealed that both AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors were expressed and functional during early stages of the developing rabbit retina. This indicates that ionotropic glutamate receptors are functional in the early stage of synapse development and may contribute to the synaptic maturation in the retinal circuits. However, the expression of functional NMDA receptors and their subunit composition in the developing rabbit retina are independent of visual experience. This suggests that visual experience plays a less significant role on developmental plasticity of NMDA receptor function in the retina than that in the cortex.

中文摘要
在視網膜的神經網絡發育過程中，麩胺酸及麩胺酸受器扮演著非常重要的角色。然而，目前對於麩胺酸受器在視網膜上的表現研究僅侷限於大鼠品系。此外，神經塑性之啟動也有賴於麩胺酸受器之活化。在發育的大鼠視網膜中，視覺經驗會影響NMDA麩胺酸受器之功能，但在視網膜中NMDA麩胺酸受器之功能性表現是否受光刺激之影響仍不明確。本研究以兔子視網膜為研究對象，觀察在視網膜發育期間，最主要的視網膜麩胺酸受器- AMPA麩胺酸受器在視網膜上的功能性表現及分布情形；此外，也觀察了在發育期間受到光照剝奪的兔子視網膜中，NMDA麩胺酸受器的功能性表現及分布情形是否會受影響。研究結果發現，在發育中兔子視網膜的神經突觸形成前，AMPA及NMDA麩胺酸受器就已經表現並具有功能，這顯示了麩胺酸受器可能參與了視網膜中突觸的早期發育及神經網絡的成熟。此外，在視網膜發育過程中，NMDA麩胺酸受器之功能及表現並不會受到光照剝奪的視覺經驗所影響，這說明了視覺經驗對視網膜中NMDA麩胺酸受器功能性表現的影響並不像在大腦視覺皮質中那麼明顯。

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