Spatial-temporal response characteristics of the ON-OFF direction selective ganglion cells in the rabbit retina.
We studied the response properties of the ON-OFF direction selective (DS) ganglion cells in the rabbit retina. The activities of the ganglion cells were recorded extracellularly with tungsten-in-glass electrodes. Drifting sine-wave gratings with various spatial and temporal frequencies were used to stimulate the ON-OFF DS cells. Individual ON-OFF DS cell yielded strongest response to a particular spatial frequency irrespective of temporal frequency. The optimal spatial wavelength increased with increasing eccentricity and its half-width approximately matched the size of the receptive field. The optimal spatial frequency implies that the directional inhibition is effective over a range of about a receptive field diameter. The characteristics of the ON-OFF DS cells suggest that they might function as local motion detectors.
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Division of Neuroscience, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. s.he@ion.ac.cn
Levick
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D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011817:Rabbits; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000502:physiology*