Spatiospectral properties of goldfish retinal ganglion cells

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1140-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bilotta ◽  
I. Abramov

1. Responses of single ganglion cells from isolated goldfish retinas were recorded during presentation of various spatial and spectral stimuli. Each cell was classified along several spatial [spatial summation class, spatial contrast sensitivity function (CSF), and response to contrast] and spectral (Red-ON, Red-OFF or Red-ON/OFF, and spectral opponency/nonopponency) dimensions. 2. Linearity of spatial summation was determined from responses to contrast-reversal sinusoidal gratings positioned at various locations across the receptive field of the cell. CSFs were derived from responses to sinusoidal gratings of various spatial frequencies and contrasts, drifting across the cell's receptive field at a rate of 4 Hz. Response to contrast was determined from responses to variations in contrast of a sinusoidal grating of optimal spatial frequency. Spectral classifications were based on responses to monochromatic stimuli presented separately to the center and surround portions of the receptive field. 3. Linearity of spatial summation (X-, Y-, and W-like) was independent of the cell's spectral properties; for example, an X-like cell could be classified as either a Red-ON, Red-OFF, or Red-ON/OFF center cell and as spectrally opponent or nonopponent. 4. There were differences in response to contrast across spectral categories. Red-OFF center cells were very sensitive to contrast compared with Red-ON center cells. Spectrally nonopponent cells were more responsive to contrast than spectrally opponent cells. 5. There were dramatic differences across the spectral categories in relative sensitivity to low spatial frequency stimuli; however, the spatial resolution (i.e., sensitivity to high spatial frequencies) of each spectral classification appeared to be similar.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Bilotta ◽  
Israel Abramov

AbstractOrientation and direction tuning were examined in goldfish ganglion cells by drifting sinusoidal gratings across the receptive field of the cell. Each ganglion cell was first classified as X-, Y- or W-like based on its responses to a contrast-reversal grating positioned at various spatial phases of the cell's receptive field. Sinusoidal gratings were drifted at different orientations and directions across the receptive field of the cell; spatial frequency and contrast of the grating were also varied. It was found that some X-like cells responded similarly to all orientations and directions, indicating that these cells had circular and symmetrical fields. Other X-like cells showed a preference for certain orientations at high spatial frequencies suggesting that these cells possess an elliptical center mechanism (since only the center mechanism is sensitive to high spatial frequencies). In virtually all cases, X-like cells were not directionally tuned. All but one Y-like cell displayed orientation tuning but, as with X-like cells, orientation tuning appeared only at high spatial frequencies. A substantial portion of these Y-like cells also showed a direction preference. This preference was dependent on spatial frequency but in a manner different from orientation tuning, suggesting that these two phenomena result from different mechanisms. All W-like cells possessed orientation and direction tuning, both of which depended on the spatial frequency of the stimulus. These results support past work which suggests that the center and surround components of retinal ganglion cell receptive fields are not necessarily circular or concentric, and that they may actually consist of smaller subareas.


1979 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Victor ◽  
R M Shapley

We investigated receptive field properties of cat retinal ganglion cells with visual stimuli which were sinusoidal spatial gratings amplitude modulated in time by a sum of sinusoids. Neural responses were analyzed into the Fourier components at the input frequencies and the components at sum and difference frequencies. The first-order frequency response of X cells had a marked spatial phase and spatial frequency dependence which could be explained in terms of linear interactions between center and surround mechanisms in the receptive field. The second-order frequency response of X cells was much smaller than the first-order frequency response at all spatial frequencies. The spatial phase and spatial frequency dependence of the first-order frequency response in Y cells in some ways resembled that of X cells. However, the Y first-order response declined to zero at a much lower spatial frequency than in X cells. Furthermore, the second-order frequency response was larger in Y cells; the second-order frequency components became the dominant part of the response for patterns of high spatial frequency. This implies that the receptive field center and surround mechanisms are physiologically quite different in Y cells from those in X cells, and that the Y cells also receive excitatory drive from an additional nonlinear receptive field mechanism.


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRIS TAILBY ◽  
SAMUEL G. SOLOMON ◽  
JONATHAN W. PEIRCE ◽  
ANDREW B. METHA

The preferred stimulus size of a V1 neuron decreases with increases in stimulus contrast. It has been supposed that stimulus contrast is the primary determinant of such spatial summation in V1 cells, though the extent to which it depends on other stimulus attributes such as orientation and spatial frequency remains untested. We investigated this by recording from single cells in V1 of anaesthetized cats and monkeys, measuring size-tuning curves for high-contrast drifting gratings of optimal spatial configuration, and comparing these curves with those obtained at lower contrast or at sub-optimal orientations or spatial frequencies. For drifting gratings of optimal spatial configuration, lower contrasts produced less surround suppression resulting in increases in preferred size. High contrast gratings of sub-optimal spatial configuration produced more surround suppression than optimal low-contrast gratings, and as much or more surround suppression than optimal high-contrast gratings. For sub-optimal spatial frequencies, preferred size was similar to that for the optimal high-contrast stimulus, whereas for sub-optimal orientations, preferred size was smaller than that for the optimal high-contrast stimulus. These results indicate that, while contrast is an important determinant of spatial summation in V1, it is not the only determinant. Simulation of these experiments on a cortical receptive field modeled as a Gabor revealed that the small preferred sizes observed for non-preferred stimuli could result simply from linear filtering by the classical receptive field. Further simulations show that surround suppression in retinal ganglion cells and LGN cells can be propagated to neurons in V1, though certain properties of the surround seen in cortex indicate that it is not solely inherited from earlier stages of processing.


2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 1708-1717 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Nolt ◽  
R. D. Kumbhani ◽  
L. A. Palmer

Based on extracellular recordings from 69 lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) cells in the anesthetized cat, we found spatial summation within their receptive fields to be dependent on the contrast of the stimuli presented. By fitting the summation curves to a difference of Gaussians model, we attributed this contrast-dependent effect to an actual change in the size of the center mechanism. Analogous changes in spatial frequency tuning were also observed, specifically increased peaks and cut-off frequencies with contrast. These effects were seen across the populations of both X and Y cell types. In a few cases, LGN cells were recorded simultaneously with one of their retinal ganglion cell (RGC) inputs (S-potentials). In every case, the RGCs exhibited similar contrast-dependent effects in the space and spatial-frequency domains. We propose that this contrast dependency in the retinal ganglion cells results directly from a reduction in the size of the center mechanism due to an increase in contrast. We also propose that these properties first arise in the retina and are transmitted passively through the LGN to visual cortex.


1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 1147-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Bilotta ◽  
I Abramov

We systematically classified goldfish ganglion cells according to their spatial summation properties using the same techniques and criteria used in cat and monkey research. Results show that goldfish ganglion cells can be classified as X-, Y-, or W-like based on their responses to contrast-reversal gratings. Like cat X cells, goldfish X-like cells display linear spatial summation. Goldfish Y-like cells, like cat Y cells, respond with frequency doubling at all spatial positions when the contrast-reversal grating consists of high spatial frequencies. There is also a third class of neurons, which is neither X- nor Y-like; many of these cells' properties are similar to those of the "not-X" cells found in the eel retina. Spatial filtering characteristics were obtained for each cell by drifting sinusoidal gratings of various spatial frequencies and contrasts across the receptive field of the cell at a constant temporal rate. The spatial tuning curves of the cell depend on the temporal parameters of the stimulus; at high drift rates, the tuning curves lose their low spatial frequency attenuation. To explore this phenomenon, temporal contrast response functions were derived from the cells' responses to a spatially uniform field whose luminance varied sinusoidally in time. These functions were obtained for the center, the surround, and the entire receptive field. The results suggest that differences in the cells' spatial filtering across stimulus drift rate are due to changes in the interaction of the center and surround mechanisms; at low temporal frequencies, the center and surround responses are out-of-phase and mutually antagonistic, but at higher temporal rates their responses are in-phase and their interaction actually enhances the cell's responsiveness.


1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.B. Troy ◽  
D.E. Schweitzer-Tong ◽  
Ch. Enroth-Cugell

AbstractThe goal of this work was to provide a detailed quantitative description of the recepii ve-field properties of one of the types of rarely encountered retinal ganglion cells of cat; the cell named the Q-cell by Enroth-Cugell et al. (1983). Quantitative comparisons are made between the discharge statistics and between the spatial receptive properties of Q-cells and the most common of cat retinal ganglion cells, the X-cells. The center-surround receptive field of the Q-cell is modeled here quantitatively and the typical Q-cell is described. The temporal properties of the Q-cell receptive field were also investigated and the dynamics of the center mechanism of the Q-cell modeled quantitatively. In addition, the response vs. contrast relationship for a Q-cell at optimal spatial and temporal frequencies is shown, and Q-cells are also demonstrated to have nonlinear spatial summation somewhat like that exhibited by Y-cells, although much higher contrasts are required to reveal this nonlinear behavior. Finally, the relationship between Q-cells and Barlow and Levick's (1969) luminance units was investigated and it was found that most Q-cells could not be luminance units.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
WALTER F. HEINE ◽  
CHRISTOPHER L. PASSAGLIA

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 486 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-261
Author(s):  
L. E. Petrovskaya ◽  
M. V. Roshchin ◽  
G. R. Smirnova ◽  
D. E. Kolotova ◽  
P. M. Balaban ◽  
...  

For the purpose of optogenetic prosthetics of the receptive field of the retinal ganglion cell, we have created a bicistronic genetic construct that carries genes of excitatory (channelorhodopsin2) and inhibitory (anionic channelorhodopsin) rhodopsins. A distinctive feature of this construct is the combination of two genes into one construct with the mutant IRES inserted between them, which ensures precise ratio of the expression levels of the first and second gene in each transfected cell. It was found that the illumination of the central part of transfected neuron with light with a wavelength of 470 nm causes the generation of action potentials in the cell. At the same time, light stimulation of the periphery of the neuron causes cessation of the generation of action potentials. Thus, we were able to simulate the ON-OFF interaction of the receptive field of the retinal ganglion cell using optogenetic methods. Theoretically, this construction can be used for optogenetic prosthetics of degenerative retina in case of its delivery to ganglion cells using lentiviral vectors.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document