NEURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE RETINAL ELEMENTS, AS REVEALED BY POLARIZATION

Abstract

Single fiber responses have been recorded from the cat''s eye by the micro-electrode technique. In addition to light, the author also used stimulation with constant currents from polarizing electrodes placed in the nasal and temporal corners of the eye. Certain characteristic differences between single fiber elements can be defined on the basis of illumination, others no less characteristic on the basis of polarization. The polarization technique is fully described, and the results so far obtained summarized. The correlations between types of elements obtained by illumination and by polarization are presented and discussed. Much of the paper is devoted to analysis of the effect of polarization on the response to light. For some types of element the response to light is uninfluenced by polarization, showing that receptor, bipolar and ganglion cell do not alone produce the large highly selective depressions and facilitations obtained with other types of element. Quantitative measurements of the curves for depressions and facilitations are given. On the basis of the correlations between visual and electric properties of the elements, as detd. by the polarization technique, it has been possible to draw a number of conclusions about the organization of the retinal elements. The results have been utilized in a 2d paper (The mammalian color modulators) to perfect a polarization technique for analysis of the color modulators of the author.