 mGluR6 (source code)

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= mGluR6
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<mGluR6> is metabotropic <glutamate> receptor subtype 6, a <receptor> <protein> involved in transmission from <photoreceptors> to <ON retinal bipolar cells>. Reduced <glutamate> release in light is coupled through <mGluR6> to a depolarizing response. The receptor and the downstream <TRPM1> channel are distinct components.<TRPM1 is required for the depolarizing light response in retinal ON-bipolar cells by Catherine W. Morgans and others>[Abstract: receptor-controlled depolarizing current]{ref}

A 1995 <gene knockout> experiment tested that role directly. Mice lacking <mGluR6> lost the measured ON responses while retaining OFF responses to light. Gross retinal organization and projections showed no obvious changes; light-conditioned avoidance behaviour remained.<Specific deficit of the ON response in visual transmission by targeted disruption of the mGluR6 gene by M. Masu and others>[Abstract: response, anatomy and behavioural comparisons]{ref}

The preserved OFF response is an illuminating internal comparison: failure of one transmission route does not establish failure of all visual signalling. Likewise, detecting an intact layer of <neurons> does not establish that its molecular signalling machinery works. The 2009 <TRPM1> experiments later helped distinguish the receptor stage from the channel that carries the depolarizing current.<TRPM1 is required for the depolarizing light response in retinal ON-bipolar cells by Catherine W. Morgans and others>[Figures 3–4: electroretinography and bipolar-cell recordings]{ref}

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