Light- and electron-microscopic analysis of neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive amacrine cells in the guinea pig retina

We investigated the morphology and synaptic connections of neuropeptide Y (NPY)-containing neurons in the guinea pig retina by immunocytochemistry, using antisera against NPY. Specific NPY immunoreactivity was localized to a population of wide-field and regularly spaced amacrine cells with processes ramifying mainly in stratum I of the inner plexiform layer (IPL). Double-label immunohistochemistry demonstrated that all NPY-immunoreactive cells possessed glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 immunoreactivity. The synaptic connectivity of NPY-immunoreactive amacrine cells was identified in the IPL by electron microscopy. The NPY-labeled amacrine cell processes received synaptic input from other amacrine cell processes and bipolar cell axon terminals in stratum I of the IPL. The most frequent postsynaptic targets of NPY-immunoreactive amacrine cells were other amacrine cell processes. Synaptic outputs to bipolar cells were also observed in a small number of cases. This finding suggests that NPY-containing amacrine cells may influence inner retinal circuitry in stratum I of the IPL, thus mediating visual processing.