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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Mar 8.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2002 Nov 14;36(4):703–712. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(02)01046-2

Figure 1. Rod Pathways in the Mouse Retina Utilize Cone Circuitry.

Figure 1

(A) In the primary rod pathway, rods synapse onto a single class of rod bipolar cell, which synapses onto the AII amacrine cell. The AII generates parallel streams of ON and OFF by forming excitatory electrical synapses with ON CBs and inhibitory glycinergic synapses with OFF CBs, respectively.

(B) In an alternative rod pathway, rods and cones are directly coupled via electrical synapses, allowing rod excitation to be communicated to ON and OFF CBs via synapses in the cone pedicle.

(C) A third pathway may function in the transmission of OFF information. In this path, rods make flat synapses onto a specialized bipolar cell type that synapses directly onto Off-center ganglion cells.