Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1986 Apr;83(8):2755–2757. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.8.2755

The primate retina contains two types of ganglion cells, with high and low contrast sensitivity.

E Kaplan, R M Shapley
PMCID: PMC323379  PMID: 3458235

Abstract

Previously, we discovered that the broadband cells in the two magnocellular (large cell) layers of the monkey lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) are much more sensitive to luminance contrast than are the color-sensitive cells in the four parvocellular (small cell) layers. We now report that this large difference in contrast sensitivity is due not to LGN circuitry but to differences in sensitivity of the retinal ganglion cells that provide excitatory synaptic input to the LGN neurons. This means that the parallel analysis of color and luminance in the visual scene begins in the retina, probably at a retinal site distal to the ganglion cells.

Full text

PDF
2755

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BISHOP P. O., BURKE W., DAVIS R. The interpretation of the extracellular response of single lateral geniculate cells. J Physiol. 1962 Aug;162:451–472. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006944. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Blasdel G. G., Fitzpatrick D. Physiological organization of layer 4 in macaque striate cortex. J Neurosci. 1984 Mar;4(3):880–895. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.04-03-00880.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cleland B. G., Dubin M. W., Levick W. R. Sustained and transient neurones in the cat's retina and lateral geniculate nucleus. J Physiol. 1971 Sep;217(2):473–496. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1971.sp009581. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Derrington A. M., Lennie P. Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivities of neurones in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. J Physiol. 1984 Dec;357:219–240. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1984.sp015498. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gouras P. Antidromic responses of orthodromically identified ganglion cells in monkey retina. J Physiol. 1969 Oct;204(2):407–419. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1969.sp008920. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hawken M. J., Parker A. J. Contrast sensitivity and orientation selectivity in lamina IV of the striate cortex of Old World monkeys. Exp Brain Res. 1984;54(2):367–372. doi: 10.1007/BF00236238. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hicks T. P., Lee B. B., Vidyasagar T. R. The responses of cells in macaque lateral geniculate nucleus to sinusoidal gratings. J Physiol. 1983 Apr;337:183–200. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1983.sp014619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kaplan E., Shapley R. M. X and Y cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque monkeys. J Physiol. 1982 Sep;330:125–143. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1982.sp014333. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kaplan E., Shapley R. The origin of the S (slow) potential in the mammalian lateral geniculate nucleus. Exp Brain Res. 1984;55(1):111–116. doi: 10.1007/BF00240504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lennie P. Parallel visual pathways: a review. Vision Res. 1980;20(7):561–594. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(80)90115-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Leventhal A. G., Rodieck R. W., Dreher B. Retinal ganglion cell classes in the Old World monkey: morphology and central projections. Science. 1981 Sep 4;213(4512):1139–1142. doi: 10.1126/science.7268423. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Levick W. R., Cleland B. G., Dubin M. W. Lateral geniculate neurons of cat: retinal inputs and physiology. Invest Ophthalmol. 1972 May;11(5):302–311. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Marrocco R. T., McClurkin J. W., Young R. A. Spatial summation and conduction latency classification of cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus of macaques. J Neurosci. 1982 Sep;2(9):1275–1291. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.02-09-01275.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Mullen K. T. The contrast sensitivity of human colour vision to red-green and blue-yellow chromatic gratings. J Physiol. 1985 Feb;359:381–400. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1985.sp015591. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Perry V. H., Oehler R., Cowey A. Retinal ganglion cells that project to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus in the macaque monkey. Neuroscience. 1984 Aug;12(4):1101–1123. doi: 10.1016/0306-4522(84)90006-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schiller P. H., Colby C. L. The responses of single cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the rhesus monkey to color and luminance contrast. Vision Res. 1983;23(12):1631–1641. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(83)90177-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Schiller P. H., Malpeli J. G. Properties and tectal projections of monkey retinal ganglion cells. J Neurophysiol. 1977 Mar;40(2):428–445. doi: 10.1152/jn.1977.40.2.428. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Scobey R. P. Movement sensitivity of retinal ganglion cells in monkey. Vision Res. 1981;21(2):181–190. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(81)90112-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Shapley R., Kaplan E., Soodak R. Spatial summation and contrast sensitivity of X and Y cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the macaque. Nature. 1981 Aug 6;292(5823):543–545. doi: 10.1038/292543a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shapley R., Lennie P. Spatial frequency analysis in the visual system. Annu Rev Neurosci. 1985;8:547–583. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ne.08.030185.002555. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. de Monasterio F. M. Properties of concentrically organized X and Y ganglion cells of macaque retina. J Neurophysiol. 1978 Nov;41(6):1394–1417. doi: 10.1152/jn.1978.41.6.1394. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. de Monasterio F. M. Properties of ganglion cells with atypical receptive-field organization in retina of macaques. J Neurophysiol. 1978 Nov;41(6):1435–1449. doi: 10.1152/jn.1978.41.6.1435. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES