Retinal Projections: Parallel processing pathways Flashcards
What does the main optic pathway begin with ?
- retinal ganglion cells, their cell bodies and dendrites in the retina - ganglion cells give rise to axons that travel to the brain , first in optic nerve, pass through optic chiasm , into optic tract
- end up making direct synaptic connections of excitatory nature with neurons in the LGN of the thalamus
What are the 3 classes of retinal ganglion cells that form parallel processing input from retina to LGN?
- Midget/Parvo: Detailed Form VISION /High Acuity & Colour with (Red/Green)
- Parasol/Magno: Global Forms /Low Acuity & Motion Vision
- Small Bi-Stratified/Konio: Colour (Blue/Yellow)
What do some retinal ganglion cells that have no involvement in Visual perception do ?
they send their axons to non -geniculate nuclei outside the thalamus
What are the 4 other classes of ganglion cells associated with other divisions of labour which mediate visual reflexes?
Circadian Rhythms; Pupillary Light Responses; Eye Movements
What is the major sub-class of our retinal ganglion cells ?
- The ‘Midget’ or Parvocellular
- 80% of our ganglion cells are this
What are some anatomical properties of the parvocellular ganglion cells?
- Small cell bodies, short dendrites, small diameter axons
- Concentrated in central retina, fewer peripherally
- Project to the Parvocellular layers (3-6) of LGN
What retinal ganglion cell sub class contributes to 10% of the cells ?
The parasol or magnocellular sub class.
What are some anatomical properties of magnocellular ganglion cells ?
-Large cell bodies & wide dendritic trees
-Wide diameter axons, heavily myelinated (fast conduction)
-Even distribution across central-to-peripheral retina
Project to Magnocellular layers (1 & 2) of LGN
What retinal ganglion cell sub class contributes to 5% of the cells ?
The ‘Small Bi-Stratified’ or Koniocellular sub-class
What are some anatomical properties of koniocellular ganglion cells?
- Small cell bodies & wide dendritic trees, very thin axons(slow conducting system - not very myelinated)
- Concentrated in central retina, few periphery
- Project to Konio cells in ‘Inter-laminar zones’ of LGN
What are the functional properties of the parvocellular ganglion cells?
-Small receptive fields, sustained responses
-ON/OFF & OFF/ON
luminance/brightness and red-green contrasts
-Luminance: high spatial frequencies (fine detail) , low contrast sensitivity (need a high contrast stimulus to activate receptive fields )
-High acuity (‘detailed form’) vision & red green Colour processing
What are the functional properties of the magnocellular ganglion cells?
-Larger receptive fields, transient (brief) responses
ON/OFF & OFF/ON; luminance/brightness contrasts only (achromatic)- no involvement in colour processing
-Luminance: low spatial frequencies (low acuity ), high contrast sensitivity (if put low contrast in receptive field they will respond to it)
-Also: high temporal contrast sensitivity (i.e., respond well to flicker & image change)- important - as theses cells are particularly responsive to image motion - motion involves change in image location and magno are really sensitive to this
(( Low acuity (‘global form’) & Motion))
What are the functional properties of the koniocellular ganglion cells?
-Small receptive fields, sustained responses
NOT centre-surround or luminance; blue-yellow contrasts only
What does global form/ low acuity mean ?
-filtered images with fine detail (high spatial frequencies) removed (except at the block borders), as seen by the lower acuity Parasol or Magno-cellular System. Who are they?
What is the anatomy of CSF (contrast sensitivity function ) ?
- formed by plotting the spatial frequency (cycles/degree) against Contrast sensitivity (reciprocal of the actual contrast of the grating)
(example of looking at thumbnail)
-1 cycle per degree is one white bar and black bar contained within thumb nail- low spatial frequency
-30 cycles/per degreee- 30 whit black bars in thumbnail- is higher spatial frequency
how many cycles per dgreee do you see if you have a VA of 6/6?
30 cycles per degree ( 30 black and white bars)
What are the ranges in the CSF graph ?
at the start low CS to low spatial frequency
at the end low CS to high spatial frequency
-In the mid range -with high CS to spatial frequency forming the peak of CSF which is 6 cycles per degree for most people (Snellen of 6/30)
-graph usually looks like inverted U
How do you deduce this CSF?
SHOW Grating of one particular spatial frequency)- change contrast between the white and black bar of the single spatial frequency - then work out what the lowest contrast the px can see- then plot.
What is the difference between the midget and parasol type ganglion cells?
make different contributions to the anatomy of the CSF
Why is there a difference between the midget and parasol cells ?
their preferred spatial frequency of these 2 ganglion cell types approx match the size of the ON and OFF regions of their receptive fields
What are the midget cells like ?
- Smaller Receptive Field Centres & Surrounds, are more responsive to higher Spatial Frequencies.
- as indicated by the panel on slide show
- the thin white bar will fill up the centre of the on centre might ganglion cells and 2 thin black bars fill up and surround the midget cell- will be the stimulus the cell really likes
- thin white bar flunked by 2 thin black bars- means fine spatial detail - high spatial frequency
What are the parasol type ganglion cells like ?
- Larger Receptive Field Centres & Surrounds, are more responsive to lower Spatial Frequencies
- to get an on centre off surround parasol cell to fire maximally- need a wider white bar to fill up the centre and 2 wider black bars to fill up the surrounding side- the cell will get very excited
- this means the parasol cells are more responsive to lower spatial frequencies in the visual image
What happens as the (C)entre-(S)urround RF (Receptive field) Sizes influence spatial frequency selectivity ?
the 2 ganglion cell types make different contributions to the overall CSF
What happens if you see a young child or adult who lost the ability to see the high spatial frequencies on the CSF?
BEEN An affect on the midget cells
-amblyopic person - this happens- VA drops if this condition is present - will lose VA on the high spatial frequency end of the - the midget and parvo cells affect this condition
What does the plus sign mean in the centre ?
light on in the centre
What does the minus sign mean ?
darkness or light off in the surround
What is the response to light on in the centre for midget cells ?
is sustained
-while light is on the cell continues to fire A.P - which vertical lines illustrate- fired by midget ganglion cell into centre