scholarly journals Properties of visual cells in the lateral eye of Limulus in situ.

1975 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Kaplan ◽  
R B Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Dark Adaptation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Visual Cells ◽  
Increment Threshold ◽  
Lateral Eye ◽  
Nerve Recordings

Excitatory properties of visual cells in the lateral eye of Limulus, investigated by optic nerve recordings in situ, differ significantly from the properties of cells in the classical, excised eye preparation. The differences suggest the possibility that two receptor mechanisms function in the eye in situ: one mechanism encodes low light intensities and the other responds to high intensities. The two mechanisms enable each ommatidium to respond over an intensity range of approximately 10 log units. This hypothesis was tested by measuring the increment threshold and the spectral sensitivity, by studying light and dark adaptation, and by analyzing the variability of the impulse discharge. Although the results do not conclusively identify two receptor mechanisms, they indicate that a process or a part of a process that functions in the eye in situ is abolished by excising the eye or cutting off its blood supply.

Cell-Based Model of the Limulus Lateral Eye

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1800-1815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Passaglia ◽  
Frederick A. Dodge ◽  
Robert B. Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Lateral Eye ◽  
Horseshoe Crabs ◽  
Parametric Analyses ◽  
Nerve Recordings

Passaglia, Christopher L., Frederick A. Dodge, and Robert B. Barlow. Cell-based model of the Limulus lateral eye. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 1800–1815, 1998. We present a cell-based model of the Limulus lateral eye that computes the eye's input to the brain in response to any specified scene. Based on the results of extensive physiological studies, the model simulates the optical sampling of visual space by the array of retinal receptors (ommatidia), the transduction of light into receptor potentials, the integration of excitatory and inhibitory signals into generator potentials, and the conversion of generator potentials into trains of optic nerve impulses. By simulating these processes at the cellular level, model ommatidia can reproduce response variability resulting from noise inherent in the stimulus and the eye itself, and they can adapt to changes in light intensity over a wide operating range. Programmed with these realistic properties, the model eye computes the simultaneous activity of its ensemble of optic nerve fibers, allowing us to explore the retinal code that mediates the visually guided behavior of the animal in its natural habitat. We assess the accuracy of model predictions by comparing the response recorded from a single optic nerve fiber to that computed by the model for the corresponding receptor. Correlation coefficients between recorded and computed responses were typically >95% under laboratory conditions. Parametric analyses of the model together with optic nerve recordings show that animal-to-animal variation in the optical and neural properties of the eye do not alter significantly its response to objects having the size and speed of horseshoe crabs. The eye appears robustly designed for encoding behaviorally important visual stimuli. Simulations with the cell-based model provide insights about the design of the Limulus eye and its encoding of the animal's visual world.

Spectral Sensitivity of Scorpion Eyes and the Possible Role of Shielding Pigment Effect

1968 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
L. MACHAN
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Dark Adaptation ◽  
Lateral Eye ◽  
Ultraviolet Sensitivity ◽  
Marked Drop

1. The lateral eye shows one maximum in the ultraviolet and another in the blue-green region of the spectrum, probably attributable to two receptor types. 2. Light-adapted lateral eyes show the peculiar effect of a marked drop in ultraviolet sensitivity, irrespective of the colour of the adapting light. 3. Absorption by shielding pigment of the lateral eye is slightly selective in the short wavelengths. 4. The median eye has one maximum in the blue-green, violet sensitivity being apparent only with prolonged dark-adaptation. 5. Absorption by the shielding pigment of the median eye appears to be non-selective.

scholarly journals THE VISUAL FUNCTIONS OF THE COMPLETE COLORBLIND

1948 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 459-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selig Hecht ◽  
Simon Shlaer ◽  
Emil L. Smith ◽  
Charles Haig ◽  
James C. Peskin
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Function ◽  
Dark Adaptation ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Intensity Discrimination ◽  
Sharp Transition ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Fusion Frequency ◽  
Visual Functions ◽  
Critical Fusion Frequency

1. The visual functions of a completely colorblind individual are compared with those of the normal. The sensibility distribution in the spectrum has a maximum at 520 mµ at all brightnesses and thus corresponds to rod vision alone. This is confirmed by studies of dark adaptation which show final thresholds like those usually found for rod vision. Dark adaptation, measured both centrally and peripherally in the retina, is a single continuous function, and regardless of the brightness of the preceding light adaptation, is of the rapid type only, such as that found for the normal following low light adaptation. Visual acuity also shows a single continuous function like that for rod vision. 2. Both critical fusion frequency and intensity discrimination show two sections, one at low and the other at high intensities with a sharp transition from one to the other. Intensity discrimination is as good as for the normal eye, and covers much the same range. The maximal critical fusion frequency is only about 20 cycles per second as compared to 55 cycles for the normal. 3. The two sections shown by the colorblind eye for intensity discrimination and fusion frequency possess the spectral sensitivity of rod vision since the relative positions on the intensity scale are not influenced by using different parts of the spectrum.

scholarly journals Inhibition in the Limulus lateral eye in situ.

1978 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 699-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
R B Barlow ◽  
A J Fraioli
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Linear Functions ◽  
Inhibitory Effects ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Sustained Oscillations ◽  
Lateral Eye ◽  
Retinal Pathways ◽  
Low Levels

Inhibition in the Limulus lateral eye in situ is qualitatively similar to that in the excised eye. In both preparations ommatidia mutually inhibit one another, and the magnitude of the inhibitory effects are linear functions of the response rate of individual ommatidia. The strength of inhibition exerted between single ommatidia is also about the same for both preparations; however, stronger effects can converge on a single ommatidium in situ. At high levels of illumination of the retina in situ the inhibitory effects are often strong enough to produce sustained oscillations in the discharge of optic nerve fibers. The weaker inhibitory influences at low levels of illumination do not produce oscillations but decrease the variance of the optic nerve discharge. Thresholds for the inhibitory effects appear to be determined by both presynaptic and postsynaptic cellular processes. Our results are consistent with the idea that a single ommatidium can be inhibited by more of its neighbors in an eye in situ than in an excised eye. Leaving intact the blood supply to the eye appears to preserve the functional integrity of the retinal pathways which mediate inhibition.

scholarly journals Properties of visual cells in the lateral eye of Limulus in situ: intracellular recordings.

1977 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
R B Barlow ◽  
E Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Light Intensity ◽  
Single Photon ◽  
Receptor Potential ◽  
Photoreceptor Cells ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Potential Fluctuations ◽  
Visual Cells ◽  
Retinular Cells

Two types of potential fluctuations, large and small, recorded intracellularly from photoreceptors in the dark-adapted Limulus eye in situ underlie the dual properties of the impulse discharge of the optic nerve fibers. The small potential fluctuations (SPFs)--the well-known quantum bumps--were normally less than 20 mV in amplitude. The large potential fluctuations (LPFs) were up to 80 mV in amplitude. LPFs appear to be regenerative events triggered by SPFs that enable single photon absorptions in retinular cells to fire off nerve impulses in the eccentric cell. In the dark, SPFs and LPFs occur spontaneously. At low light intensities, LPFs are the major components of the receptor potential. At high intensities, LPFs are suppressed and SPFs become the major components. SPFs and LPFs together enable single photoreceptor cells to encode approximately a 9-log unit range of light intensity. Excising the eye from the animal or cutting off its blood supply generally abolishes LPFs and thereby reduces the range of light intensity coded in the optic nerve discharge.

scholarly journals INHIBITORY INTERACTION OF RECEPTOR UNITS IN THE EYE OF LIMULUS

1957 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Hartline ◽  
Floyd Ratliff
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Linear Equations ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Optical Systems ◽  
Inhibitory Interaction ◽  
Lateral Eye ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Maintained Discharge

The inhibition that is exerted mutually among the receptor units (ommatidia) in the lateral eye of Limulus has been analyzed by recording oscillographically the discharge of nerve impulses in single optic nerve fibers. The discharges from two ommatidia were recorded simultaneously by connecting the bundles containing their optic nerve fibers to separate amplifiers and recording systems. Ommatidia were chosen that were separated by no more than a few millimeters in the eye; they were illuminated independently by separate optical systems. The frequency of the maintained discharge of impulses from each of two ommatidia illuminated steadily is lower when both are illuminated together than when each is illuminated by itself. When only two ommatidia are illuminated, the magnitude of the inhibition of each one depends only on the degree of activity of the other; the activity of each, in turn, is the resultant of the excitation from its respective light stimulus and the inhibition exerted on it by the other. When additional receptors are illuminated in the vicinity of an interacting pair too far from one ommatidium to affect it directly, but near enough to the second to inhibit it, the frequency of discharge of the first increases as it is partially released from the inhibition exerted on it by the second (disinhibition). Disinhibition simulates facilitation; it is an example of indirect effects of interaction taking place over greater distances in the eye than are covered by direct inhibitory interconnections. When only two interacting ommatidia are illuminated, the inhibition exerted on each (decrease of its frequency of discharge) is a linear function of the degree of activity (frequency of discharge) of the other. Below a certain frequency (often different for different receptors) no inhibition is exerted by a receptor. Above this threshold, the rate of increase of inhibition of one receptor with increasing frequency of discharge of the other is constant, and may be at least as high as 0.2 impulse inhibited in one receptor per impulse discharged by the other. For a given pair of interacting receptors, the inhibitory coefficients are not always the same in the two directions of action. The responses to steady illumination of two receptor units that inhibit each other mutually are described quantitatively by two simultaneous linear equations that express concisely all the features discussed above. These equations may be extended and their number supplemented to describe the responses of more than two interacting elements.

A very rapid in situ Kikuchi technique to determine relative crystal misorientation

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 830-831
Author(s):  
J. I. Bennetch
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Superplastic Forming ◽  
The Other ◽  
Kikuchi Pattern ◽  
Kikuchi Line ◽  
Line Analysis

In a recent study of the superplastic forming (SPF) behavior of certain Al-Li-X alloys, the relative misorientation between adjacent (sub)grains proved to be an important parameter. It is well established that the most accurate way to determine misorientation across boundaries is by Kikuchi line analysis. However, the SPF study required the characterization of a large number of (sub)grains in each sample to be statistically meaningful, a very time-consuming task even for comparatively rapid Kikuchi analytical techniques.In order to circumvent this problem, an alternate, even more rapid in-situ Kikuchi technique was devised, eliminating the need for the developing of negatives and any subsequent measurements on photographic plates. All that is required is a double tilt low backlash goniometer capable of tilting ± 45° in one axis and ± 30° in the other axis. The procedure is as follows. While viewing the microscope screen, one merely tilts the specimen until a standard recognizable reference Kikuchi pattern is centered, making sure, at the same time, that the focused electron beam remains on the (sub)grain in question.

Extensive Enteric Leiomyolysis Due to Cytomegalovirus Enterocolitis in Vertically Acquired Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Infants

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 591-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virpi V. Smith ◽  
Amanda J. Williams ◽  
Vas Novelli ◽  
Marian Malone
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Vascular Endothelium ◽  
Muscularis Propria ◽  
The Other ◽  
Muscularis Mucosae ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Acquired Immunodeficiency ◽  
Immunodeficiency Syndrome ◽  
Viral Inclusions

We report two infants with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and rectal bleeding due to cytomegalovirus (CMV) ileitis and colitis with minimal focal mucosal ulceration but with extensive leiomyolysis of the muscularis propria. Immunostaining and in situ hybridization for CMV showed numerous viral inclusions in the myocytes of the muscularis propria and vascular endothelium/smooth muscle with only occasional inclusions present in the muscularis mucosae. Colectomy was curative in one patient; in the other the bowel was only examined at postmortem.

Did Ground Cover Change Over Geologic Time?

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben A. LePage ◽  
Hermann W. Pfefferkorn
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
The Other ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Plant Fossil

When one hears the term “ground cover,” one immediately thinks of “grasses.” This perception is so deep-seated that paleobotanists even have been overheard to proclaim that “there was no ground cover before grasses.” Today grasses are so predominant in many environments that this perception is perpetuated easily. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine the absence or lack of ground cover prior to the mid-Tertiary. We tested the hypothesis that different forms of ground cover existed in the past against examples from the Recent and the fossil record (Table 1). The Recent data were obtained from a large number of sources including those in the ecological, horticultural, and microbiological literature. Other data were derived from our knowledge of Precambrian life, sedimentology and paleosols, and the plant fossil record, especially in situ floras and fossil “monocultures.” Some of the data are original observations, but many others are from the literature. A detailed account of these results will be presented elsewhere (Pfefferkorn and LePage, in preparation).

Reproductive performance of group-synchronized Merino d'Arles and Romanov crossbred ewes. 1. A note on the effects of lactation on fecundity

1977 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Galindez ◽  
M. Prud'hon ◽  
G. Reboul
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fertility Level ◽  
Homogeneous Groups ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Significant Superiority

SUMMARYFifty-six Merino d'Aries and 56 Romanov × Merino crossbred lactating ewes were divided into two treatment groups, one (T1) with a ewe-to-ram ratio of 48: 1 (24 Merino and 24 crossbred) and the other (T2) of 64: 1 (32 Merino and 32 crossbred).Intravaginal sponges with 40 mg FGA (Searle) were inserted in two subgroups at 8-day intervals and withdrawn after 12 and 16 days in situ, in four equal groups at 4-day intervals. A dose of 400 IU pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) was applied at sponge withdrawal.Fertility after two oestrous cycles was equally satisfactory in both treatments, though it was lower in treatment group T2. This could be due to the significantly low (P<0·01) number of Merino ewes raddled by the T2 ram (0·33 Merino against 0·92 crossbred) suggesting preferential behaviour by the ram in this treatment.Comparisons between breeds show a slight superiority in the fertility of crossbred ewes and a highly significant superiority in prolificacy These results suggest that using the described method, 2% of rams seems more than adequate to mate with progestagen-synchronized ewes with a satisfactory fertility level. It is, however, recommended to use homogeneous groups of ewes.

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