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. 2020 May 19;20:196. doi: 10.1186/s12886-020-01467-0

Table 1.

Photoreceptor density (cells/ mm2) in human macula [3, 30]

ETDRS subfields
(inner to outer radius in mm and degrees of visual angle)
Mean cells/ mm2 in subfield Ratio of Rods to Cones
Cones/ mm2 Rods/ mm2 Rods : Cones
Ages 27-37 years

Center

(0 - 0.5 mm; 0 - 1.7°)

57,001 20,013 0.35

Inner

(0.5 - 1.5 mm; 1.7 - 5.2°)

18,774 78,252 4.17

Outer

(1.5 - 3.0 mm; 5.2 - 10.4°)

10,138 130,750 12.90
Mean photoreceptor density in ETDRS grid 13,354 116,037 8.69
Age 61-90 years

Center

(0 - 0.5 mm; 0 - 1.7°)

54,897 15,016 0.27

Inner

(0.5 - 1.5 mm; 1.7 - 5.2°)

17,673 56,105 3.17

Outer

(1.5 - 3.0 mm; 5.2 - 10.4°)

9,512 96,265 10.12
Mean photoreceptor density in ETDRS grid 12,582 85,106 6.76
RMDA test spot locations Ages 27-37 years
 5° superior 15,530 82,357 5.30
 12° superior 9,406 145,683 15.49
Ages 61-82 years
 5° superior 15,376 62,043 4.04
 12° superior 8,835 116,683 13.21

1 mm = 3.5° visual angle

The ETDRS grid is 28.27 mm2 in area and contains 377,530 cones and 3,280,371 rods in retinas of donors aged 27-37 and 355,678 cones and 2,405,952 rods in retinas from donors aged 61-90. Densities at specific locations were determined by finely space resample of the original data

ETDRS Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study, RMDA Rod-mediated dark adaptation