The nonlinear pathway of Y ganglion cells in the cat retina.
Retinal ganglion cells of the Y type in the cat retina produce two different types of response: linear and nonlinear. The nonlinear responses are generated by a separate and independent nonlinear pathway. The functional connectivity in this pathway is analyzed here by comparing the observed second-order frequency responses of Y cells with predictions of a "sandwich model" in which a static nonlinear stage is sandwiched between two linear filters. The model agrees well with the qualitative and quantitative features of the second-order responses. The prefilter in the model may well be the bipolar cells and the nonlinearity and postfilter in the model are probably associated with amacrine cells.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission