Asymmetrical dendritic fields of retinal ganglion cells.

Abstract

By use of Golgi chrome—silver impregnation, studies were made of the dendritic branchings of feline and frog ganglion cells. It was shown that besides the known varieties of ganglion cells there were asymmetrical neurones whose dendrites lay all to one side. Essential differences distinguished these ganglion cells in the cat from those in the frog, differences depending upon the architectonics of the inner plexiform layer, which is broad and subdivided into layers in the frog, and narrow in the cat. We discuss the possible role of neurones with a unilateral arrangement of dendrites in relation to know electrophysiological data on retinal detectors and the receptive fields of ganglion cells.