Figure 4.

Hypotheses on affected areas in the outer retina and GCIP. 4A Normal retinal structure with indication of the layers used in this research. 4B The arrow represents the direction in which the trans-synaptic atrophy is proceeding (anterograde). The red cells are affected by atrophy. In this situation, numerous rods and cone signal to numerous inner retinal cells (divergence). When vast parts of the outer retina are altered, this may eventually lead to attenuation of the inner retina. 4C In retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration, the atrophy from the GCIP on is thought to be held at the level of the INL, due to the presence of many cells and synapses. This may result in convergence and dispersion of the dystrophy and thereby non-significant attenuation of the outer retina.