Retinal structure: From Cajal drawings to present morphological techniques

Abstract

AbstractThe scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal and his work on the organization of the nervous system and the Neuronal Theory are widely known. However, his studies and contributions on the structure of the retina remain almost forgotten. La rétine des vertébrés, appearing in the journal La Cellule (1892), is a masterpiece of scientific literature, frequently cited in scientific articles even today. In this presentation we want to highlight his work on the neuroanatomy of the retina as well as his excellent descriptions and artistic drawings of its cells. Santiago Ramón y Cajal published his first studies of the retina using the Golgi technique in 1888. Cajal describes in detail the histology and anatomy of the retina of the various types of vertebrates. His studies of the structural organization of the retina, as well as the almost prophetic predictions he made about its functions, have become the basis of retinal neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropathology. The descriptions made by the scientist on the types of retinal cells in different species and on the way in which these cells are interconnected are the most outstanding and complete that have been carried out. The new techniques of confocal microscopy and immunocytochemistry allow us to morphologically identify the various cell types as well as the synaptic connections between them and ratify the ideas proposals by Cajal.