Rate Coding Versus Temporal Order Coding: What the Retinal Ganglion Cells Tell the Visual Cortex

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1255-1283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rufin Van Rullen ◽  
Simon J. Thorpe
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Information Transmission ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
The Mean

It is often supposed that the messages sent to the visual cortex by the retinal ganglion cells are encoded by the mean firing rates observed on spike trains generated with a Poisson process. Using an information transmission approach, we evaluate the performances of two such codes, one based on the spike count and the other on the mean interspike interval, and compare the results with a rank order code, where the first ganglion cells to emit a spike are given a maximal weight. Our results show that the rate codes are far from optimal for fast information transmission and that the temporal structure of the spike train can be efficiently used to maximize the information transfer rate under conditions where each cell needs to fire only one spike.

scholarly journals Photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells control the information rate of the optic nerve

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (50) ◽  
pp. E11817-E11826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Milosavljevic ◽  
Riccardo Storchi ◽  
Cyril G. Eleftheriou ◽  
Andrea Colins ◽  
Rasmus S. Petersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optic Nerve ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Ambient Light ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Light Irradiance ◽  
The Brain

Information transfer in the brain relies upon energetically expensive spiking activity of neurons. Rates of information flow should therefore be carefully optimized, but mechanisms to control this parameter are poorly understood. We address this deficit in the visual system, where ambient light (irradiance) is predictive of the amount of information reaching the eye and ask whether a neural measure of irradiance can therefore be used to proactively control information flow along the optic nerve. We first show that firing rates for the retina’s output neurons [retinal ganglion cells (RGCs)] scale with irradiance and are positively correlated with rates of information and the gain of visual responses. Irradiance modulates firing in the absence of any other visual signal confirming that this is a genuine response to changing ambient light. Irradiance-driven changes in firing are observed across the population of RGCs (including in both ON and OFF units) but are disrupted in mice lacking melanopsin [the photopigment of irradiance-coding intrinsically photosensitive RGCs (ipRGCs)] and can be induced under steady light exposure by chemogenetic activation of ipRGCs. Artificially elevating firing by chemogenetic excitation of ipRGCs is sufficient to increase information flow by increasing the gain of visual responses, indicating that enhanced firing is a cause of increased information transfer at higher irradiance. Our results establish a retinal circuitry driving changes in RGC firing as an active response to alterations in ambient light to adjust the amount of visual information transmitted to the brain.

Morphogenesis of retinal ganglion cells during formation of the fovea in the Rhesus macaque

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 603-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Kirby ◽  
Thomas C. Steineke
Keyword(s):  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Primary Dendrite ◽  
Dendritic Arbor ◽  
Inner Plexiform Layer ◽  
Comparative Neurology ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Central Retina ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe morphology of retinal ganglion cells within the central retina during formation of the fovea was examined in retinal explants with horseradish-peroxidase histochemistry. A foveal depression was first apparent in retinal wholemounts at embryonic day 112 (El 12; gestational term is approximately 165 days). At earlier fetal ages, the site of the future fovea was identified by several criteria that included peak density of ganglion cells, lack of blood vessels in the inner retinal layers, arcuate fiber bundles, and the absence of rod outer segments in the photoreceptor layer. Prior to E112, the terminal dendritic arbor of retinal ganglion cells within the central retina extended into the inner plexiform layer and were located directly beneath their somas of origin or at most were slightly displaced from it. For example, at E90 the mean horizontal displacement of the geometric center of the dendritic arbor from the somas of cells within 600 μm of the estimated center of the future fovea was 4.1 μm (S.D. 2.7, range 1.0-10.0, n = 97). Following formation of the foveal depression the dendritic arbors of cells were significantly displaced from their somas. For example, at E138 the mean displacement was 41.2 μm (S.D. 12.2, range 12.0-56.0, n = 97). The displacement of the dendritic arbor which occurred during this period was not accounted for by areal growth of the dendritic arbor, the somas, or the retina, but was produced by the lengthening of the primary dendritic trunk. Moreover, no significant displacement was observed within the remaining 1.5–6.5 mm of the central retina. These observations provide evidence supporting early speculations that the formation of the foveal pit occurs, in part, by the radial migration of ganglion cells from the center of the fovea during its formation. Our analyses suggest that this migration occurs by the lengthening of the primary dendrite presumably by the addition of membrane. This migration is in a direction opposite to the inward movement of photoreceptors that occurs during late fetal and early postnatal periods (Packer et al., 1990, Journal of Comparative Neurology 298, 472–493).

Complex Spike-Event Pattern of Transient on-off Retinal Ganglion Cells

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 2845-2856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Greschner ◽  
Andreas Thiel ◽  
Jutta Kretzberg ◽  
Josef Ammermüller
Keyword(s):  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Cell Subpopulation ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Filter Model ◽  
Spike Event

on-off transient ganglion cells of the turtle retina show distinct spike-event patterns in response to abrupt intensity changes, such as during saccadic eye movements. These patterns consist of two main spike events, with the latency of each event showing a systematic dependency on stimulus contrast. Whereas the latency of the first event decreases monotonically with increasing contrast, as expected, the second event shows the shortest latency for intermediate contrasts and a longer latency for high and low contrasts. These spike-event patterns improve the discrimination of different light-intensity transitions based on ensemble responses of the on-off transient ganglion cell subpopulation. Although the discrimination results are far better than chance using either spike counts or latencies of the first spikes, they are further improved by using properties of the second spike event. The best classification results are obtained when spike rates and latencies of both events are considered in combination. Thus spike counts and temporal structure of retinal ganglion cells carry complementary information about the stimulus condition, and thus spike-event patterns could be an important aspect of retinal coding. To investigate the origin of the spike-event patterns in retinal ganglion cells, two computational models of retinal processing are compared. A linear–nonlinear model consisting of separate filters for on and off response components fails to reproduce the spike-event patterns. A more complex cascade filter model, however, accurately predicts the timing of the spike events by using a combination of gain control loop and spike rate adaptation.

Analysis of vertebrate eye movements following intravitreal drug injections. I. Blockade of retinal ON-cells by 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate eliminates optokinetic nystagmus

1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 1010-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Knapp ◽  
M. Ariel ◽  
F. R. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Optokinetic Nystagmus ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Directional Asymmetry ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Binocular Stimulation ◽  
Vertebrate Eye ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Horizontal optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) was examined in alert rabbits and cats following intravitreal injection of 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (APB), an agent which selectively blocks the light-responsiveness of retinal ON-cells while having little effect on OFF-cells. The retinal actions of APB were assessed independently by electroretinography. 2. In five rabbits, doses of APB sufficient to eliminate the b-wave of the electroretinogram reduced drastically the ability of the injected eye to drive OKN at all stimulus speeds tested (1-96 degrees/s). Impairment of OKN was apparent within minutes of the injection, remained maximal for several hours, and recovered completely in 1-7 days. OKN in response to stimulation of the uninjected eye alone remained qualitatively and quantitatively normal. 3. Following administration of APB, OKN in response to binocular stimulation displayed a directional asymmetry. Stimuli moving in the preferred (temporal-to-nasal) direction for the uninjected eye became more effective than stimuli moving in the opposite direction, indicating that the injected eye could no longer contribute to binocular OKN. 4. When rabbits viewed stationary stimuli through the APB-treated eye alone, episodes of slow (less than 1 degrees/s) ocular drift were observed, similar to the positional instability seen when rabbits are placed in darkness or when the retinal image is stablized artifically (12). 5. APB had little effect on OKN in normal cats. In two cats that had previously received large lesions of the visual cortex, however, APB eliminated the ability of the injected eye to drive monocular OKN. The extent of the impairment was similar to that seen in rabbits. Because the cortex is thought to contribute more to OKN in cats than in rabbits, this result suggests that the optokinetic pathways disrupted by APB project subcortically. 6. This study demonstrates that the integrity of retinal ON-cells is required to sustain normal OKN. The results are consistent with additional anatomic and physiological evidence suggesting that a particular subclass of retinal ganglion cells, the ON-direction-selective cells, may provide a crucial source of visual input to central optokinetic pathways.

scholarly journals A dedicated circuit links direction-selective retinal ganglion cells to the primary visual cortex

Nature ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 507 (7492) ◽  
pp. 358-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Cruz-Martín ◽  
Rana N. El-Danaf ◽  
Fumitaka Osakada ◽  
Balaji Sriram ◽  
Onkar S. Dhande ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Retinal Ganglion
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