Morphological and functional diversity of retinal ganglion cells in the common marmoset

Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells are projecting neurons that send visual information from the retina to the brain. They generate different patterns of action potentials in response to different kinds of visual information. In the retinas of mammals such as mice or rabbits, there are functionally and morphologically diverse retinal ganglion cells. However, in the primate retina, midget and parasol cells are believed to be dominant, and show less diversity. In this study, we performed organotypic culture of retinas and acute gene transfection of GFPs by gene-gun. We found more diverse retinal ganglion cells, including directional selective ganglion cells, than we expected, even in the retinas of primates such as common marmosets. Further, we found a third pathway from the retina to the brain via the thalamus, in addition to the magnocellular and parvocellular pathways.