Chapter 4 Macaque ganglion cells and spatial vision

We measured mosaic properties of midget and parasol ganglion cells in the retina of a New World monkey, the common marmosetCallithrix jacchus. We addressed the functional specialization of these populations for color and spatial vision, by comparing the mosaic of ganglion cells in dichromatic (“red–green color blind”) and trichromatic marmosets. Ganglion cells were labelled by photolytic amplification of retrograde marker (“photofilling”) following injections into the lateral geniculate nucleus, or by intracellular injection in anin vitroretinal preparation. The dendritic-field size, shape, and overlap of neighboring cells were measured. We show that in marmosets, both midget and parasol cells exhibit a radial bias, so that the long axis of the dendritic field points towards the fovea. The radial bias is similar for parasol cells and midget cells, despite the fact that midget cell dendritic fields are more elongated than are those of parasol cells. The dendritic fields of midget ganglion cells from the same (ON or OFF) response-type array show very little overlap, consistent with the low coverage of the midget mosaic in humans. No large differences in radial bias, or overlap, were seen on comparing retinae from dichromatic and trichromatic animals. These data suggest that radial bias in ganglion cell populations is a consistent feature of the primate retina. Furthermore, they suggest that the mosaic properties of the midget cell population are associated with high spatial resolution rather than being specifically associated with trichromatic color vision.

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The lighting environment, its metrology and non-visual responses

10.31219/osf.io/j7m25 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luc Schlangen ◽

Luke Price

Keyword(s):

Ganglion Cells ◽

Proper Time ◽

International Workshop ◽

Spatial Vision ◽

Light Sensitivity ◽

Position Statement ◽

Time Of Day ◽

Light Sources ◽

Visual Responses ◽

Sensitivity Functions

A new international standard, CIE S 026:2018, defines spectral sensitivity functions that describe optical radiation for its ability to stimulate each of the five α-opic retinal photoreceptor classes that contribute, to non-visual effects and functions of light in humans via intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). The CIE recently published an α-opic toolbox that calculates all the quantities and ratios of the α-opic metrology in the photometric, radiometric and photon systems, either based on a measured (user-defined) spectrum or on selected illuminants (A, D65, E, FL11, LED-B3) built into the toolbox. For most practical ecologically-valid applications, the melanopsin-based photoreception of ipRGCs has been shown to account for the light sensitivity of non-visual responses, from shifting the timing of nocturnal melatonin secretion to regulating steady-state pupil diameter. A CIE position statement recently adopted melanopic EDI in preliminary guidance on using the “proper light at the proper time” to manipulate non-visual responses. Further guidance in this field is expected from an upcoming scientific consensus paper by the participants of the 2nd International Workshop on Circadian and Neurophysiological Photometry (in Manchester, August 2019). Recent findings continue to confirm that melanopsin also plays a role in visual responses. For instance, brightness perception and aspects of spatial vision can be modulated significantly by melanopsin-based photoreception.The new α-opic metrology standardised in CIE S 026 enables traceable measurements for a formal, quantitative specification of personal light exposures and lighting designs. Here, we apply this metrology, together with the toolbox, to everyday light sources including a natural daylight time series, a range of LED lighting products and a smartphone display screen. This collection of examples is of interest to both lighting and public health professions, and suggests ways in which modulations in the melanopic content of light across time of day can be adopted within strategies that use light to support human health and wellbeing.

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Topography of ganglion cells and photoreceptors in the retina of a New World monkey: The marmoset Callithrix jacchus

Visual Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/s0952523800007586 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 335-352 ◽

Cited By ~ 87

Author(s):

Heath D. Wilder ◽

Ulrike Grünert ◽

Barry B. Lee ◽

Paul R. Martin

Keyword(s):

New World ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

World Monkey ◽

Pcr Amplification ◽

Spatial Vision ◽

Macaque Monkey ◽

Callithrix Jacchus ◽

Peripheral Retina ◽

Spatial Density ◽

New World Monkey

AbstractWe studied the anatomical substrates of spatial vision in a New World monkey, the marmoset Callithrix jacchus. This species has good visual acuity and a foveal specialization which is qualitatively similar to that of humans and other Old World primates.We measured the spatial density of retinal ganglion cells and photoreceptors, and calculated the relative numbers of these cell populations. We find that ganglion cells outnumber photoreceptors by between 2.4:1 and 4.2:1 in the fovea. The peak sampling density of ganglion cells is close to 550,000 cells/mm2. This value falls by almost 1000-fold between the fovea and peripheral retina; a value which approaches recent estimates of the centroperipheral ganglion cell gradient for human and macaque monkey retina and primary visual cortex. The marmoset shows a sex-linked polymorphism of color vision: all male and some female marmosets are dichromats. Six of the retinas used in the present study came from animals whose chromatic phenotype was identified in electrophysiological experiments and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of cone opsin encoding genes. One animal was a trichromat and the others were dichromats. Antibodies against short wavelength-sensitive (SWS) cones labeled close to 8% of all cones near the fovea of onedichromat animal, consistent with electrophysiological evidence that the SWS system is present inall marmosets. The topography and spatial density of cone photoreceptors and ganglion cells was similar to that reported for macaque retina, and we found no obvious difference between dichromatic and trichromatic marmoset retinas. These results reinforce the view that the main determinate of primate foveal topography is the requirement for maximal spatial resolution.

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The Lighting Environment, Its Metrology, and Non-visual Responses

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2021.624861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Luc J. M. Schlangen ◽

Luke L. A. Price

Keyword(s):

Spectral Sensitivity ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Proper Time ◽

International Workshop ◽

Spatial Vision ◽

Well Being ◽

Position Statement ◽

Light Sources ◽

Visual Responses ◽

Visual Effects

International standard CIE S 026:2018 provides lighting professionals and field researchers in chronobiology with a method to characterize light exposures with respect to non-visual photoreception and responses. This standard defines five spectral sensitivity functions that describe optical radiation for its ability to stimulate each of the five α-opic retinal photoreceptor classes that contribute to the non-visual effects of light in humans via intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). The CIE also recently published an open-access α-opic toolbox that calculates all the quantities and ratios of the α-opic metrology in the photometric, radiometric and photon systems, based on either a measured (user-defined) spectrum or selected illuminants (A, D65, E, FL11, LED-B3) built into the toolbox. For a wide variety of ecologically-valid conditions, the melanopsin-based photoreception of ipRGCs has been shown to account for the spectral sensitivity of non-visual responses, from shifting the timing of nocturnal sleep and melatonin secretion to regulating steady-state pupil diameter. Recent findings continue to confirm that the photopigment melanopsin also plays a role in visual responses, and that melanopsin-based photoreception may have a significant influence on brightness perception and aspects of spatial vision. Although knowledge concerning the extent to which rods and cones interact with ipRGCs in driving non-visual effects is still growing, a CIE position statement recently used melanopic equivalent daylight (D65) illuminance in preliminary guidance on applying “proper light at the proper time” to manipulate non-visual responses. Further guidance on this approach is awaited from the participants of the 2nd International Workshop on Circadian and Neurophysiological Photometry (in Manchester, August 2019). The new α-opic metrology of CIE S 026 enables traceable measurements and a formal, quantitative specification of personal light exposures, photic interventions and lighting designs. Here, we apply this metrology to everyday light sources including a natural daylight time series, a range of LED lighting products and, using the toobox, to a smartphone display screen. This collection of examples suggests ways in which variations in the melanopic content of light over the day can be adopted in strategies that use light to support human health and well-being.

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An S-cone circuit for edge detection in the primate retina

10.1101/667204 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sara S. Patterson ◽

James A. Kuchenbecker ◽

James R. Anderson ◽

Andrea S. Bordt ◽

David W. Marshak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Receptive Field ◽

Edge Detection ◽

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Spatial Vision ◽

Macaque Monkey ◽

Field Structure ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Dual Roles ◽

3D Electron Microscopy

AbstractMidget retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the most common RGC type in the primate retina. Their responses mediate both color and spatial vision, yet the specific links between midget RGC responses and visual perception are unclear. Previous research on the dual roles of midget RGCs has focused on those comparing long (L) vs. middle (M) wavelength sensitive cones. However, there is evidence for several other rare midget RGC subtypes receiving S-cone input, but their role in color and spatial vision is uncertain. Here, we confirm the existence of the single S-cone center OFF midget RGC circuit in the central retina of macaque monkey both structurally and functionally, by combining single cell electrophysiology with 3D electron microscopy reconstructions of the upstream circuitry. Like the well-studied L vs. M midget RGCs, the S-OFF midget RGCs have a center-surround receptive field consistent with a role in spatial vision. While spectral opponency in a primate RGC is classically assumed to contribute to hue perception, a role supporting edge detection is more consistent with the S-OFF midget RGC receptive field structure and studies of hue perception.

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Spatial summation in the human fovea: the effect of optical aberrations and fixational eye movements

10.1101/283119 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

William S. Tuten ◽

Robert F. Cooper ◽

Pavan Tiruveedhula ◽

Alfredo Dubra ◽

Austin Roorda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Visual System ◽

Adaptive Optics ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Spatial Summation ◽

Spatial Vision ◽

Optical Aberrations ◽

Stimulus Motion ◽

Fixational Eye Movements ◽

Magnocellular Visual Pathway

AbstractPsychophysical inferences about the neural mechanisms supporting spatial vision can be undermined by uncertainties introduced by optical aberrations and fixational eye movements, particularly in fovea where the neuronal grain of the visual system is fine. We examined the effect of these pre-neural factors on photopic spatial summation in the human fovea using a custom adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope that provided control over optical aberrations and retinal stimulus motion. Consistent with previous results, Ricco’s area of complete summation encompassed multiple photoreceptors when measured with ordinary amounts of ocular aberrations and retinal stimulus motion. When both factors were minimized experimentally, summation areas were essentially unchanged, suggesting that foveal spatial summation is limited by post-receptoral neural pooling. We compared our behavioral data to predictions generated with a physiologically-inspired front-end model of the visual system, and were able to capture the shape of the summation curves obtained with and without pre-retinal factors using a single post-receptoral summing filter of fixed spatial extent. Given our data and modeling, neurons in the magnocellular visual pathway, such as parasol ganglion cells, provide a candidate neural correlate of Ricco’s area in the central fovea.

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Relationship between golgi apparatus and axonal reticulum in sympathetic ganglion cells

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100083862 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 598-599

Author(s):

J. Quatacker ◽

W. De Potter

Keyword(s):

Golgi Apparatus ◽

Sympathetic Ganglion ◽

Phosphotungstic Acid ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Low Ph ◽

Dense Core ◽

Dense Core Vesicles ◽

Large Dense Core Vesicles ◽

Cervical Ganglia ◽

Axoplasmic Reticulum

Mucopolysaccharides have been demonstrated biochemically in catecholamine-containing subcellular particles in different rat, cat and ox tissues. As catecholamine-containing granules seem to arise from the Golgi apparatus and some also from the axoplasmic reticulum we examined wether carbohydrate macromolecules could be detected in the small and large dense core vesicles and in structures related to them. To this purpose superior cervical ganglia and irises from rabbit and cat and coeliac ganglia and their axons from dog were subjected to the chromaffin reaction to show the distribution of catecholamine-containing granules. Some material was also embedded in glycolmethacrylate (GMA) and stained with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) at low pH for the detection of carbohydrate macromolecules.The chromaffin reaction in the perikarya reveals mainly large dense core vesicles, but in the axon hillock, the axons and the terminals, the small dense core vesicles are more prominent. In the axons the small granules are sometimes seen inside a reticular network (fig. 1).

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Structure and function of neural networks in the retina

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100102213 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Peter Sterling

Keyword(s):

Ganglion Cells ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Synaptic Connections ◽

Visual Axis ◽

One Dimensional ◽

Cat Retina ◽

Ultrathin Sections ◽

And Function ◽

Insight Into

The synaptic connections in cat retina that link photoreceptors to ganglion cells have been analyzed quantitatively. Our approach has been to prepare serial, ultrathin sections and photograph en montage at low magnification (˜2000X) in the electron microscope. Six series, 100-300 sections long, have been prepared over the last decade. They derive from different cats but always from the same region of retina, about one degree from the center of the visual axis. The material has been analyzed by reconstructing adjacent neurons in each array and then identifying systematically the synaptic connections between arrays. Most reconstructions were done manually by tracing the outlines of processes in successive sections onto acetate sheets aligned on a cartoonist's jig. The tracings were then digitized, stacked by computer, and printed with the hidden lines removed. The results have provided rather than the usual one-dimensional account of pathways, a three-dimensional account of circuits. From this has emerged insight into the functional architecture.

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Morphological Observations on the Granule Types in Rabbit Extra-Adrenal Chromaffin Cells.

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100115213 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 318-319

Author(s):

Joe A. Mascorro ◽

Robert D. Yates

Keyword(s):

Chromaffin Cells ◽

Sodium Phosphate ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Ultrastructural Level ◽

Osmic Acid ◽

Adrenal Chromaffin Cells ◽

Potassium Iodate ◽

Perfusion Fluid ◽

New Zealand White Rabbits ◽

Adrenal Chromaffin

Extra-adrenal chromaffin organs (abdominal paraganglia) constitute rich sources of catecholamines. It is believed that these bodies contain norepinephrine exclusively. However, the present workers recently observed epinephrine type granules in para- ganglion cells. This report investigates catecholamine containing granules in rabbit paraganglia at the ultrastructural level.New Zealand white rabbits (150-170 grams) were anesthetized with 50 mg/kg Nembutal (IP) and perfused with 3% glutaraldehyde buffered with 0.2M sodium phosphate, pH 7.3. The retroperitoneal tissue blocks were removed and placed in perfusion fluid for 4 hours. The abdominal paraganglia were dissected from the blocks, diced, washed in phosphate buffer and fixed in 1% osmic acid buffered with phosphate. In other animals, the glutaraldehyde perfused tissue blocks were immersed for 1 hour in 3% glutaraldehyde/2.5% potassium iodate buffered as before. The paraganglia were then diced, separated into two vials and washed in the buffer. A portion of this tissue received osmic acid fixation.

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