Computation of motion direction by quail retinal ganglion cells that have a nonconcentric receptive field

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIROYUKI UCHIYAMA ◽  
TAKAHIDE KANAYA ◽  
SHOICHI SONOHATA
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Japanese Quail ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Object Motion ◽  
Directional Selectivity ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Neuronal Mechanisms

One type of retinal ganglion cells prefers object motion in a particular direction. Neuronal mechanisms for the computation of motion direction are still unknown. We quantitatively mapped excitatory and inhibitory regions of receptive fields for directionally selective retinal ganglion cells in the Japanese quail, and found that the inhibitory regions are displaced about 1–3 deg toward the side where the null sweep starts, relative to the excitatory regions. Directional selectivity thus results from delayed transient suppression exerted by the nonconcentrically arranged inhibitory regions, and not by local directional inhibition as hypothesized by Barlow and Levick (1965).

Evidence for local circuits within the receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells in goldfish

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Levine ◽  
Roger P. Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Response Component ◽  
Stimulus Offset ◽  
Local Circuits

AbstractA new form of receptive field map, the response-component map, was developed to identify points within a receptive field that produce similar response patterns. The fields were probed with discretely flashed small spots of light. The magnitudes of the responses to stimulus onset and to stimulus offset elicited at each point were represented on the map by a vector radiating from the position representing the location of that point. Thus, response-component maps preserve the spatial distributions of responsivity and temporal nonlinearities. Points with similar response patterns were identified from a scatterplot in which the response at each spatial position was located in a plane representing the angles of the response-component vectors. Points with similar response characteristics that were also spatially contiguous were considered as a distinct response subregion within the receptive field.Barely 10% of the receptive fields of goldfish ganglion cells mapped with this technique proved as simple as the traditional concentric field described for retinal cells. In at least 17% of the cases, the field showed three concentric rings, with a very small “inner center” within the center of the field. In at least 50% of the cases, response subregions of different type lay side by side, rather than in a concentric configuration. Some subregions could be differentiated by the relative strengths of the responses to onset and offset of the stimulus spot, supporting the hypothesis that a push-pull system generates ganglion cell responses. Subregions were evident in successive mappings of the same cell, demonstrating they are not due to the vagaries of individual responses. They probably represent the spatial domains (or their intersections) of individual interneurons distal to the retinal ganglion cells. It is possible that position within the receptive field may be coded by the temporal pattern of the responses.

scholarly journals Specificity and Strength of Retinogeniculate Connections

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 3527-3540 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Martin Usrey ◽  
John B. Reppas ◽  
R. Clay Reid
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Noise Stimulus ◽  
Retinal Afferents

Retinal ganglion cells and their target neurons in the principal layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus have very similar, center-surround receptive fields. Although some geniculate neurons are dominated by a single retinal afferent, others receive both strong and weak inputs from several retinal afferents. In the present study, experiments were performed in the cat that examined the specificity and strength of monosynaptic connections between retinal ganglion cells and their target neurons. The responses of 205 pairs of retinal ganglion cells and geniculate neurons with overlapping receptive-field centers or surrounds were studied. Receptive fields were mapped quantitatively using a white-noise stimulus; connectivity was assessed by cross-correlating the retinal and geniculate spike trains. Of the 205 pairs, 12 were determined to have monosynaptic connections. Both the likelihood that cells were connected and the strength of connections increased with increasing similarity between retinal and geniculate receptive fields. Connections were never found between cells with <50% spatial overlap between their centers. The results suggest that although geniculate neurons often receive input from several retinal afferents, these multiple afferents represent a select subset of the retinal ganglion cells with overlapping receptive-field centers.

Correlated Firing in Rabbit Retinal Ganglion Cells

1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 908-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven H. DeVries
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Multielectrode Array ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Retinal Surface ◽  
Multiple Electrodes ◽  
Independent Decision

Correlated firing in rabbit retinal ganglion cells. A ganglion cell’s receptive field is defined as that region on the retinal surface in which a light stimulus will produce a response. While neighboring ganglion cells may respond to the same stimulus in a region where their receptive fields overlap, it generally has been assumed that each cell makes an independent decision about whether to fire. Recent recordings from cat and salamander retina using multiple electrodes have challenged this view of independent firing by showing that neighboring ganglion cells have an increased tendency to fire together within ±5 ms. However, there is still uncertainty about which types of ganglion cells fire together, the mechanisms that produce coordinated spikes, and the overall function of coordinated firing. To address these issues, the responses of up to 80 rabbit retinal ganglion cells were recorded simultaneously using a multielectrode array. Of the 11 classes of rabbit ganglion cells previously identified, coordinated firing was observed in five. Plots of the spike train cross-correlation function suggested that coordinated firing occurred through two mechanisms. In the first mechanism, a spike in an interneuron diverged to produce simultaneous spikes in two ganglion cells. This mechanism predominated in four of the five classes including the onbrisk transient cells. In the second mechanism, ganglion cells appeared to activate each other reciprocally. This was the predominant pattern of correlated firing in off brisk transient cells. By comparing the receptive field profiles of on andoff brisk transient cells, a peripheral extension of theoff brisk transient cell receptive field was identified that might be produced by lateral spike spread. Thus an individualoff brisk transient cell can respond both to a light stimulus directed at the center of its receptive field and to stimuli that activate neighboring off brisk transient cells through their receptive field centers.

Linear mechanism of orientation tuning in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat

1987 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Soodak ◽  
R. M. Shapley ◽  
E. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Lateral Geniculate ◽  
Neural Interactions

1. The orientation tuning of lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) neurons and retinal ganglion cells (recorded as S potentials in the LGN) was investigated with drifting grating stimuli. 2. Results were compared with a quantitative model, in which receptive fields were constructed from linear, elliptical Gaussian center and surround subunits, and responses could be predicted to gratings of any spatial frequency at any orientation. 3. The orientation tuning of X and Y retinal ganglion cells and LGN neurons was shown to result from the linear mechanism of receptive-field elongation, as data from these cells could be well fit with this model. 4. The responses of LGN neurons and their input retinal ganglion cells were compared. The orientation tuning of LGN neurons was found to be a reflection of the tuning of their retinal inputs, showing that neither intrageniculate neural interactions nor the corticogeniculate projection play any role in LGN orientation selectivity.

Electrophysiology of retinal ganglion cells in the mouse: a study of a normally pigmented mouse and a congenic hypopigmentation mutant, pearl

1982 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. Balkema ◽  
L. H. Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
White Light ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Action Spectrum ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Light Sensitivity ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Criterion Response

1. The organization of the receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells in te normal mouse was studied qualitatively in recordings from 43 single axons in the optic nerve and optic tract, and the light sensitivity was studied quantitatively in 26 of these cells by measuring incremental sensitivity. 2. The receptive fields of normal animals were elliptical, had concentric center and peripheral subdivisions, and had an antagonistic center/surround organization; the receptive-field centers ranged from 1.95 to 83 degrees in diameter, with a median of 7 degrees. 3. The incremental sensitivity to white light was measured using a criterion response of 10 extra spikes; the most sensitive dark-adapted cell required a stimulus luminance of 3.5 x 10(-3) cd/m2 to generate a criterion response. 4. The action spectrum measured at seven different wavelengths (433-619 nm) from ganglion cells in the normally pigmented mouse resembled the CIE (International Commission on Illumination, CIE 1957 (11)) relative scotopic luminous efficiency function (41) and is consistent with a curve having a peak around 500 nm. 5. On light adaptation with blue light (less than 460 nm), the sensitivity to longer wavelength stimuli increased by 0.2-0.5 log units relative to the sensitivity to the shorter wavelengths; these results are compatible with the presence of a photoreceptor sensitive to long wavelengths in the normally pigmented mouse (C57BL/6J+/+). 6. The organization of the receptive fields of 48 retinal ganglion cells from the hypopigmentation mutant pearl (C57BL/6J-pe) was also studied qualitatively; the receptive field organization was similar to that of the normally pigmented mouse. 7. In 25 cells from dark-adapted pearl mice, the incremental sensitivity to white light was, on the average, 1.6 log units less than that for normal mice. 8. The dark-adapted action spectrum of pearl mice was similar to that of normally pigmented mice. However, a shift in sensitivity to longer wavelengths did not occur on selective light adaptation with the most luminous blue light (less than 460 nm) background that we could produce. 9. We conclude that pearl is one of the mammalian genes that codes for functions that affect dark-adapted retinal sensitivity. The results of this study and past studies suggest that the pearl gene's action on light sensitivity is predominantly within the retina and before (distal to) the ganglion cells.

scholarly journals Visual Deprivation Retards the Maturation of Dendritic Fields and Receptive Fields of Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chen ◽  
Hong-Ping Xu ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Ning Tian
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Dendritic Field

It was well documented that both the size of the dendritic field and receptive field of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are developmentally regulated in the mammalian retina, and visual stimulation is required for the maturation of the dendritic and receptive fields of mouse RGCs. However, it is not clear whether the developmental changes of the RGC receptive field correlate with the dendritic field and whether visual stimulation regulates the maturation of the dendritic field and receptive field of RGCs in a correlated manner. The present work demonstrated that both the dendritic and receptive fields of RGCs continuously develop after eye opening. However, the correlation between the developmental changes in the receptive field size and the dendritic field varies among different RGC types. These results suggest a continuous change of synaptic converging of RGC synaptic inputs in an RGC type-dependent manner. Besides, light deprivation impairs both the development of dendritic and receptive fields.

Classification of turtle retinal ganglion cells

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Granda ◽  
J. E. Fulbrook
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Adaptation Level ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Transient Responses ◽  
Stimulus Movement

1. Receptive fields of 78 retinal ganglion cells were analyzed for their responses to moving and stationary lights that were presented under a variety of stimulus conditions. All cells were sensitive to moving stimuli, and their receptive fields often comprised excitatory and inhibitory sub-regions. 2. Properties used in the classification included responses to stationary flashed stimuli, receptive-field organization, changes in stimulus wavelength and adaptation, movement velocity, and direction of stimulus movement. Eight functional cell classes were derived: simple, ON-sustained, annular, wavelength-sensitive, directionally selective, bar-shaped, large-field, and velocity. 3. Simple cells, representing 21% of the sample, had circular or oval receptive fields of 3-22 degrees that gave transient responses to stationary, flashed lights. Many of these cells, but not all, showed antagonistic center-surround organizations. ON-sustained cells responded for the duration of the stimulus flash or for the duration of a light flash moving through the receptive field. These units comprised 8% of the sample; they had small, circular, non-directional receptive fields and they were most sensitive to red light. Their field sizes did not vary with changes in adaptation level. 4. Annular cells (4% of the sample) gave no responses to any stimulation in the field center, but they responded strongly to stimulation in the surround area, especially to stimuli that moved very slowly through the region. Annular cells were nondirectional, with circular centers of 5-6 degrees diam and annular surround widths of 2-4 degrees. They responded best in light adaptation. 5. Wavelength-sensitive cells, similar to most of the cells sampled, were sensitive to red light when light-adapted. Some cells in addition showed input from rods under dark adaptation. Intensity-response curves for these latter cells showed clear changes from one input to the other as the cells' functional ranges were explored. Some cells responded best to short- or middle-wavelength light, but these were more rarely met. Where multiple receptor inputs could be identified, long-wavelength stimuli evoked transient responses, whereas short-wavelength stimuli favored more sustained spike trains. Wavelength-sensitive cells in this category comprised 5% of the sample.

Emergence of complex receptive field properties of ganglion cells in the developing turtle retina

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1355-1364 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Sernagor ◽  
N. M. Grzywacz
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Directional Selectivity ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Synaptic Connections ◽  
Embryonic Cells ◽  
Receptive Field Properties ◽  
Spatiotemporal Receptive Field

1. Receptive field properties of adult retinal ganglion cells are well documented, but little is known about their development. We made extracellular recordings of activity from turtle retinal ganglion cells during embryogenesis (stages 22-26), during the first 40 days posthatching, and in adults. 2. From stage 22 the cells fired in spontaneous recurring bursts, and from stage 23 they responded to light. Polar plots of the responses to motion were highly anisotropic in early embryonic cells. More than 40% of embryonic cells exhibited multiaxis anisotropy, and only 6% were statistically isotropic. The incidence of anisotropic cells gradually decreased throughout development. The incidence of isotropic cells and the excitatory receptive field diameters of all ganglion cells gradually increased during development and their maturation coincided with the disappearance of the spontaneous bursts (2-4 wk posthatching). 3. Both sensitivities to stimulus orientation and direction of motion were observed at the earliest stages of development. However, orientation selectivity reached a peak incidence at hatching, whereas directional selectivity completely disappeared, only to reappear in adults. 4. These results show that mature spatiotemporal receptive field properties of retinal ganglion cells emerge from initially highly anisotropic properties, which may reflect an immature, polarized dendritic layout. Their maturation might be mediated by dendritic outgrowth and strengthening of excitatory synaptic connections, which could be induced by spontaneous activity and driven to maturation by exposure to light at birth. Mature directional selectivity seems to require visual experience or the late establishment of a specialized inhibitory synaptic drive.

Expansion of visual receptive fields in experimental glaucoma

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
WAYNE MICHAEL KING ◽  
VIMAL SARUP ◽  
YVES SAUVÉ ◽  
COLLEEN M. MORELAND ◽  
DAVID O. CARPENTER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intraocular Pressure ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Dendritic Arbors

Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness and is characterized by death of retinal ganglion cells. In a rat model of glaucoma in which intraocular pressure is raised by cautery of episcleral veins, the somata and dendritic arbors of surviving retinal ganglion cells expand. To assess physiological consequences of this change, we have measured visual receptive-field size in a primary retinal target, the superior colliculus. Using multiunit recording, receptive-field sizes were measured for glaucomatous eyes and compared to both those measured for contralateral control eyes and to homolateral eyes of unoperated animals. Episcleral vein occlusion increased intraocular pressure. This was accompanied by a significant increase in receptive-field size across the superior colliculus. The expansion of receptive fields was proportional to both degree and duration of the increase of intraocular pressure. We suggest that this increase in the size of receptive fields of glaucomatous eyes may be related to the increase in the size of dendritic arbors of the surviving ganglion cells in retina.

scholarly journals Spatial receptive field properties of rat retinal ganglion cells

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
WALTER F. HEINE ◽  
CHRISTOPHER L. PASSAGLIA
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Ganglion Cell ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
X And Y Cells ◽  
Y Cells

AbstractThe rat is a popular animal model for vision research, yet there is little quantitative information about the physiological properties of the cells that provide its brain with visual input, the retinal ganglion cells. It is not clear whether rats even possess the full complement of ganglion cell types found in other mammals. Since such information is important for evaluating rodent models of visual disease and elucidating the function of homologous and heterologous cells in different animals, we recorded from rat ganglion cells in vivo and systematically measured their spatial receptive field (RF) properties using spot, annulus, and grating patterns. Most of the recorded cells bore likeness to cat X and Y cells, exhibiting brisk responses, center-surround RFs, and linear or nonlinear spatial summation. The others resembled various types of mammalian W cell, including local-edge-detector cells, suppressed-by-contrast cells, and an unusual type with an ON–OFF surround. They generally exhibited sluggish responses, larger RFs, and lower responsiveness. The peak responsivity of brisk-nonlinear (Y-type) cells was around twice that of brisk-linear (X-type) cells and several fold that of sluggish cells. The RF size of brisk-linear and brisk-nonlinear cells was indistinguishable, with average center and surround diameters of 5.6 ± 1.3 and 26.4 ± 11.3 deg, respectively. In contrast, the center diameter of recorded sluggish cells averaged 12.8 ± 7.9 deg. The homogeneous RF size of rat brisk cells is unlike that of cat X and Y cells, and its implication regarding the putative roles of these two ganglion cell types in visual signaling is discussed.

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