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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2002, 22(7):2737-2747
Functional Asymmetries in ON and OFF Ganglion Cells of
Primate Retina
E. J.
Chichilnisky and
Rachel S.
Kalmar
Systems Neurobiology, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California
92037, and University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
92037
Functional asymmetries in the ON and OFF pathways of the primate
visual system were examined using simultaneous multi-electrode recordings from dozens of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in
vitro. Light responses of RGCs were characterized using white
noise stimulation. Two distinct functional types of cells frequently
encountered, one ON and one OFF, had non-opponent spectral sensitivity,
relatively high response gain, transient light responses, and large
receptive fields (RFs) that tiled the region of retina recorded,
suggesting that they belonged to the same morphological cell class,
most likely parasol. Three principal functional asymmetries were
observed. (1) Receptive fields of ON cells were 20% larger in diameter
than those of OFF cells, resulting in higher full-field sensitivity. (2) ON cells had faster response kinetics than OFF cells, with a
10-20% shorter time to peak, trough and zero crossing in the biphasic
temporal impulse response. (3) ON cells had more nearly linear light
responses and were capable of signaling decrements, whereas OFF cells
had more strongly rectifying responses that provided little information
about increments. These findings suggest specific mechanistic
asymmetries in retinal ON and OFF circuits and differences in visual
performance on the basis of the activity of ON and OFF parasol cells.
Key words:
retinal ganglion cell; receptive field; monkey; retina; kinetics; dynamics; sensitivity; white noise; nonlinear
Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/02/2272737-11$05.00/0
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