The effect of dark adaptation on the responses of cat retinal ganglion cells to eyeball deformation

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Eyeball deformation in total darkness leads to an activation of on-center ganglion cells and an inhibition of off-center ganglion cells. After “deformation off” most on-center ganglion cell activity decreased slowly to the normal spontaneous dark level, while in off-center ganglion cells some returned according to an exponential function to normal dark activity, while others had a transient postinhibitory activation period. In general, the response type of latency class I and latency class II neurons was the same. Dark adaptation of 30–45 min duration only changed this neuronal response pattern slightly, if at all. A detailed statistical analysis is provided for the four classes of retinal ganglion cells recorded: latency class I on-center and off-center neurons and latency class II on-center and off-center neurons. The missing effects of dark adaptation on neuronal responses evoked by eyeball deformation are explained by three possible models. The more plausible one assumes that horizontal cells are depolarized by retinal stretch. Their interaction with cone on-bipolars or cone off-bipolars is fairly independent of photoreceptor adaptation or transmitter release at the cone pedicles and is still effective when all molecular receptor sites at cone/bipolar cell synapses are occupied during scotopic states of dark adaptation. In psychophysical experiments (two subjects), as in the neuronal responses, we also could not find any indication that the “pressure phosphenes” evoked by lateral eyeball indentation are altered during dark adaptation.