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Dendritic territories of cat retinal ganglion cells

Abstract

Ganglion cells have to cover the retina with their dendritic fields so that every point of the visual space is ‘seen’ by at least one ganglion cell of each physiological type. Using neurofibrillar methods it has now become possible to stain all the α-ganglion cells so that their dendritic network can be analysed1. Both subpopulations of α-cells, corresponding physiologically to ON-brisk-transient cells2–5 and OFF-brisk-transient cells, achieve a uniform and independent coverage of the retina. The cell bodies are arrayed in a regular mosaic1,6 and the dendritic fields adapt to the available space. It is suggested that during development interaction between neighbouring ganglion cells of the same functional type regulates their dendritic field sizes.

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Wässle, H., Peichl, L. & Boycott, B. Dendritic territories of cat retinal ganglion cells. Nature 292, 344–345 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292344a0

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