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Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 13, 5334-5355, Copyright © 1993 by Society for Neuroscience
The mosaic of midget ganglion cells in the human retina
DM Dacey
Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle 98195.
To study their detailed morphology, ganglion cells of the human retina were
stained by intracellular tracer injection, in an in vitro, whole- mount
preparation. This report focuses on the dendritic morphology and mosaic
organization of the major, presumed color-opponent, ganglion cell class,
the midget cells. Midget cells in the central retina were recognized by
their extremely small dendritic trees, approximately 5-10 microns in
diameter. Between 2 and 6 mm eccentricity, midget cells showed a steep,
10-fold increase in dendritic field size, followed by a more shallow,
three- to fourfold increase in the retinal periphery, attaining a maximum
diameter of approximately 225 microns. Despite large local variation in
dendritic field size, midget cells formed one morphologically distinctive
class at all retinal eccentricities. Two midget cell types were
distinguished by their dendritic stratification in either the inner or
outer portion of the inner plexiform layer (IPL), and presumably correspond
to ON- and OFF-center cells respectively. The mosaic organization of the
midget cells was examined by intracellularly filling neighboring cells in
small patches of retina. For both the inner and outer midget populations,
adjacent dendritic trees apposed one another but did not overlap,
establishing a coverage of no greater than 1. The two mosaics differed in
spatial scale, however: the outer midget cells showed smaller dendritic
fields and higher cell density than the inner midget cells. An outer:inner
cell density ratio of 1.7:1 was found in the retinal periphery. An estimate
of total midget cell density suggested that the proportion of midget cells
increases from about 45% of total ganglion cell density in the retinal
periphery to about 95% in the central retina. Nyquist frequencies
calculated from midget cell spacing closely match a recent measure of human
achromatic spatial acuity (Anderson et al., 1991), from approximately 6
degrees to 55 degrees eccentricity. Outside the central retina, midget cell
dendrites arborized in clusters within the overall dendritic field. With
increasing eccentricity, the dendritic clusters increased in number and
remained small (approximately 10-20 microns diameter) relative to the size
of the dendritic field. Because neighboring midget cell dendritic trees do
not overlap, the mosaic as a whole showed a pattern of clusters and holes.
We hypothesize that midget cell dendritic trees may contact individual axon
terminals of some midget bipolar cells and avoid contacting others,
providing a basis for the formation of cone-specific connections in the
IPL.
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