Morphological types of horizontal cell in the retina of the domestic cat

Abstract

Two morphologically distinct types of horizontal cell are described from Golgi-stained whole mounts of the cat retina. They are referred to as A-type and B-type cells. The two types differ in their dendritic branching pattern, their overall size and the absence or presence of an axon. At every retinal position the dendrites of B-type cells branch more densely and overlap each other more frequently than do the dendrites of A-type cells. At equivalent retinal positions the dendritic field size of A-type cells is greater than that of B-type cells by a factor of about 1.5. Only B-type cells have an axon, which branches at the end into a large axon terminal system. The axons have no preferred direction of orientation. The stainability of horizontal cells by different Golgi methods is discussed.