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Pathways from retina to brain

Retinal ganglion cells project to 4 major subcortical targets:

1. The suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus - entrainment of circadian rhythms to the light light-dark dark cycle. cycle The pretectal area of midbrain - control of pupillary response to light. The superior colliculus multisensory mapping of extrapersonal space, mainly for reflex control. The lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (LGN) project to layer 4 of the p primary y visual cortex ( (V1). )

2. 3.

4.

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THERETINOTHALAMICOCCIPITALPATHWAY FORCONSCIOUSVISION.

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(LGN)

Lateralgeniculatenucleus ofthalamus (LGN)

Striatecortex,locatedinthe occipitallobe,istheprimaryvisual projectionarea.

VisualField

Eachvisualcortexreceives inputfrombotheyes:theright cortexseestheleftvisualfield andtheleftcortexseesthe right g visualfield.

Thispatternisachievedby thepartialcrossingofthe opticnervefibersattheoptic chiasm:axonsfromthe medialretinacross, ,those fromperipheralretinadonot.

Tounderstandhowthisworks,examinetheprojectionsofthemedialandlateral partsofthereceptivefieldontothemedialandlateralpartsoftheretina.

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Thevisualpathwayis retinotopicallyorganized.
Retinotopyisthetopographicorganizationofvisualpathwaysinwhichneighboring cells ll inthe h retinaprojectto( (i.e.,innervate) )neighboring hb cells ll inthe h targetstructure. Retinotopymaintainstheprecisefeaturesoftheretinalmapandthereforealsothe visualfield.

nonMnonP

P M M P L L R R L R P

Projectionsofretinalganglioncelltypesontoseparatelayersofthe lateralgeniculatenucleus(LGN)ofthethalamus.Eachlayeris retinotopicallyorganizedandinregisterwiththeotherlayers.

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Retinotopic Organization in the Right Occipital Lobe

Thereceptivefield ofavisualneuronisthe areaof fthe th retina ti th that, t when h stimulated ti l t d withlight,changesthecellsmembrane potential.

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Ganglion cells also have receptive fields witih concentric, mutually antagonistic center-surround properties.

Neuronsinthelateralgeniculate nucleus (LGN)ofthethalamushavereceptivefield properties p p similartog ganglion g cells.

Neuronsintheprimaryvisualcortexhave elongatedreceptivefields.

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PN12091.JPG

3 thalamic neurons converging on a cortical neuron.

The alignment of their receptive fields determine the features of the best stimulus of the cortical cell.

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Thalamic neurons

Corticalneuron

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The best stimulus will be a horizontal bar of light.

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Thalamic neurons

A simple cell in primary visual cortex

A simple cell in primary visual cortex responds to a bar and is orientation-specific A simple cell is defined as having a receptive field with mutally antagonistic inhibitory and excitatory portions

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All neurons in a given cortical column have the same orientation preference. Columns representing all orientation preferences form a cortical module.

ColumnarOrganizationofOrientation SelectivityintheStriateCortex

Allneuronsinagivencorticalcolumnhavethesameorientation preference.Differentpreferencecolumnschangeinanorderlywayso thatpreferencesinadjacentcolumnsdifferonlyslightly.

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Inadditiontodifferencesin orientationspecificity,cortical p to neuronsdifferintheirresponse binocularinputsandwavelength. Binocularinputsaresortedinto oculardominancecolumns.

PN12100.JPG

Oculardominance columnsinlayerIV

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Ocular dominance columns labeled by anterograde transport of radiolabeled proline from the LGN

ColumnarOrganizationof OcularDominance

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Typesofcolumns

Columnar Organization of Ocular Dominance

Thepreferenceforleftvs righteye changesgraduallyacrossadjacent columns.Aparticularpreferenceis foundinallcellswithinacolumn.All preferencesarerepresented p p across columns.

Visionwithtwoeyes (i.e.,binocular visionisthethe basisofdepth perception. Binoculardisparities aregenerallythought tobethebasisof stereopsis ordepth perception.

Whytwoeyes?

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Corticalneuronsalsodifferintheir responsetowavelength. Wavelength l hspecificity f issorted dinto cytochrome oxidase blobs(parvo, magno,nonMnonP). Interblob areashavethesmallest receptivefields(parvo).Theyhave orientationselectivereceptivefields.

Cytochrome oxidase blobs aresuperimposedonthe oculardominancecolumns.

Wavelengthspecificityis sortedintocytochrome oxidase blobs.Blobs receiveinputfromparvo, magno,nonMnonP ganglioncells. Interblob areasreceive inputfromparvocellular ganglioncells.

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Corticalmodulescontainallelementsforimage processingforaparticularpointinvisualfield.

GANGLIONCELLS
P=parvocellular M=magnocellular

Threeclassesofganglioncells havebeenidentified: PtypeandMtype,andnonM nonPtype.

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Note: Both rods and cones contribute to these receptive fields, but cones of all types contribute equally to center and surround, so they lack wavelength specificity.

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Dorsal Pathway for Spatial Vision and Motion Detection arises from M-type ganglion cells. All cells in this pathway are direction selective.

Ventral Pathway for object and shape recognition and color perception arises from P type and non-M non-P type ganglion cells

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