Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T09:20:09.982Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spatial resolution, contrast sensitivity, and sensitivity to defocus of chicken retinal ganglion cells in vitro

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

ERICH DIEDRICH  and
FRANK SCHAEFFEL
ERICH DIEDRICH
Affiliation:
Section of Neurobiology of the Eye, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany
FRANK SCHAEFFEL*
Affiliation:
Section of Neurobiology of the Eye, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany
*
*Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Frank Schaeffel, Section of Neurobiology of the Eye, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Calwerstrasse 7/1, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The chicken has been extensively studied as an animal model for myopia because its eye growth is tightly controlled by visual experience. It has been found that the retina controls the axial eye growth rates depending on the amount and the sign of defocus imposed in the projected image. Glucagonergic amacrine cells were discovered that appear to encode for the sign of imposed defocus. It is not clear whether the downstream neurons, the retinal ganglion cells, still have access to this information—and whether it ultimately reaches the brain. We have analyzed the spike rates of chicken retinal ganglion cells in vitro using a microelectrode array. For this purpose, we initially defined spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity in vitro. Two classes of chicken retinal ganglions were found, depending on the linearity of their responses with increasing contrast. Responses generally declined with increasing defocus of the visual stimulus. These responses were well predicted by the modulation transfer function for a diffraction-limited defocused optical system, the first Bessel function. Thus, the studied retinal ganglion cells did not distinguish between a loss of contrast at a given spatial frequency due to reduced contrast of the stimulus pattern or because the pattern was presented out of focus. Furthermore, there was no indication that the retinal ganglion cells responded differently to defocus of either sign, at least for the cells that were recorded in this study.

Keywords

Microelectrode array (MEA)EmmetropizationDefocusMyopia
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 26 , Issue 5-6 , November 2009 , pp. 467 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bitzer, M. & Schaeffel, F. (2002). Defocus-induced changes in ZENK expression in the chicken retina. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 43, 246–252.Google ScholarPubMed
Bitzer, M. & Schaeffel, F. (2004). Effects of quisqualic acid on retinal ZENK expression induced by imposed defocus in the chick eye. Optometry and Vision Science 81, 127–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blakemore, C. & Campbell, F.W. (1969). Adaptation to spatial stimuli. The Journal of Physiology 200, 11P–13P.Google ScholarPubMed
Campbell, F.W. & Green, D.G. (1965). Optical and retinal factors affecting visual resolution. The Journal of Physiology 181, 576–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charman, W.N. & Heron, G. (1988). Fluctuations in accommodation: A review. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics 8, 153–164.Google ScholarPubMed
Chen, A.H., Zhou, Y., Gong, H.Q. & Liang, P.J. (2005). Luminance adaptation increased the contrast sensitivity of retinal ganglion cells. Neuroreport 16, 371–375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coletta, N.J., Marcos, S., Wildsoet, C. & Troilo, D. (2003). Double-pass measurement of retinal image quality in the chicken eye. Optometry and Vision Science 80, 50–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croner, L.J. & Kaplan, E. (1995). Receptive fields of P and M ganglion cells across the primate retina. Vision Research 35, 7–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Valois, R.L., Morgan, H. & Snodderly, D.M. (1974). Psychophysical studies of monkey vision. 3. Spatial luminance contrast sensitivity tests of macaque and human observers. Vision Research 14, 75–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Valois, R.L. & Morgan, H.C. (1974). Psychophysical studies of monkey vision. II. Squirrel monkey wavelength and saturation discrimination. Vision Research 14, 69–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demello, L.R., Foster, T.M. & Temple, W. (1992). Discriminative performance of the domestic hen in a visual acuity task. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 58, 147–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diether, S. & Schaeffel, F. (1999). Long-term changes in retinal contrast sensitivity in chicks from frosted occluders and drugs: Relations to myopia? Vision Research 39, 2499–2510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egert, U. (1995). Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Multielektroden-Ableitsystems auf der Basis eines photolithographisch hergestellten Mikroelektroden-Arrays. PhD Dissertation. Eberhard Karls Universitaet Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.Google Scholar
Field, G.D. & Chichilnisky, E.J. (2007). Information processing in the primate retina: Circuitry and coding. Annual Review of Neuroscience 30, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, A.J., McGuire, J.J., Schaeffel, F. & Stell, W.K. (1999). Light and focus-dependent expression of the transcription factor ZENK in the chick retina. Nature Neuroscience 2, 706–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gaffney, M.F. & Hodos, W. (2003). The visual acuity and refractive state of the American kestrel (Falco sparverius). Vision Research 43, 2053–2059.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garcia de la Cera, E., Rodriguez, G. & Marcos, S. (2006). Longitudinal changes of optical aberrations in normal and form-deprived myopic chick eyes. Vision Research 46, 579–589.Google ScholarPubMed
Georgeson, M.A. & Sullivan, G.D. (1975). Contrast constancy: Deblurring in human vision by spatial frequency channels. The Journal of Physiology 252, 627–656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ghim, M.M. & Hodos, W. (2006). Spatial contrast sensitivity of birds. Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 192, 523–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greschner, M., Bongard, M., Rujan, P. & Ammermuller, J. (2002). Retinal ganglion cell synchronization by fixational eye movements improves feature estimation. Nature Neuroscience 5, 341–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harmening, W.M., Vobig, M.A., Walter, P. & Wagner, H. (2007). Ocular aberrations in barn owl eyes. Vision Research 47, 2934–2942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsch, J. (1982). Falcon visual sensitivity to grating contrast. Nature 300, 57–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, H.M. (1914). Visual in the vertebrates-II. Comparative visual acuity in the dog, the monkey and the chick. Journal of Animal Behavior 4, 340–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, E. & Shapley, R.M. (1986). The primate retina contains two types of ganglion cells, with high and low contrast sensitivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 83, 2755–2757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kisilak, M.L., Campbell, M.C., Hunter, J.J., Irving, E.L. & Huang, L. (2006). Aberrations of chick eyes during normal growth and lens induction of myopia. Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 192, 845–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruger, P.B., Mathews, S., Aggarwala, K.R. & Sanchez, N. (1993). Chromatic aberration and ocular focus: Fincham revisited. Vision Research 33, 1397–1411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, X., Zhou, Y., Gong, H.Q. & Liang, P.J. (2007). Contribution of the GABAergic pathway(s) to the correlated activities of chicken retinal ganglion cells. Brain Research 1177, 37–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBrien, N.A., Moghaddam, H.O., Cottriall, C.L., Leech, E.M. & Cornell, L.M. (1995). The effects of blockade of retinal cell action potentials on ocular growth, emmetropization and form deprivation myopia in young chicks. Vision Research 35, 1141–1152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Megaw, P.L., Boelen, M.G., Morgan, I.G. & Boelen, M.K. (2006). Diurnal patterns of dopamine release in chicken retina. Neurochemistry International 48, 17–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merigan, W.H. (1976). The contrast sensitivity of the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus). Vision Research 16, 375–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miles, F.A. (1972). Centrifugal control of the avian retina. I. Receptive field properties of retinal ganglion cells. Brain Research 48, 65–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Northmore, D.P. & Dvorak, C.A. (1979). Contrast sensitivity and acuity of the goldfish. Vision Research 19, 255–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohngemach, S., Hagel, G. & Schaeffel, F. (1997). Concentrations of biogenic amines in fundal layers in chickens with normal visual experience, deprivation, and after reserpine application. Visual Neuroscience 14, 493–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Over, R. & Moore, D. (1981). Spatial acuity of the chicken. Brain Research 211, 424–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porciatti, V., Hodos, W., Signorini, G. & Bramanti, F. (1991). Electroretinographic changes in aged pigeons. Vision Research 31, 661–668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reymond, L. (1985). Spatial visual acuity of the eagle Aquila audax: A behavioural, optical and anatomical investigation. Vision Research 25, 1477–1491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reymond, L. & Wolfe, J. (1981). Behavioural determination of the contrast sensitivity function of the eagle Aquila audax. Vision Research 21, 263–271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaeffel, F., Glasser, A. & Howland, H.C. (1988). Accommodation, refractive error and eye growth in chickens. Vision Research 28, 639–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaeffel, F., Troilo, D., Wallman, J. & Howland, H.C. (1990). Developing eyes that lack accommodation grow to compensate for imposed defocus. Visual Neuroscience 4, 177–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmid, K.L. & Wildsoet, C.F. (1997). The sensitivity of the chick eye to refractive defocus. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics 17, 61–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmid, K.L. & Wildsoet, C.F. (1998). Assessment of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in the chick using an optokinetic nystagmus paradigm. Vision Research 38, 2629–2634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, P., Feldkaemper, M., Bitzer, M., Ohngemach, S. & Schaeffel, F. (2004). Early transcriptional changes of retinal and choroidal TGFbeta-2, RALDH-2, and ZENK following imposed positive and negative defocus in chickens. Molecular Vision 10, 588–597.Google ScholarPubMed
Stett, A., Barth, W., Weiss, S., Haemmerle, H. & Zrenner, E. (2000). Electrical multisite stimulation of the isolated chicken retina. Vision Research 40, 1785–1795.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallman, J. & Winawer, J. (2004). Homeostasis of eye growth and the question of myopia. Neuron 43, 447–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wildsoet, C. & Wallman, J. (1995). Choroidal and scleral mechanisms of compensation for spectacle lenses in chicks. Vision Research 35, 1175–1194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, B.J., Decker, K.E. & Roorda, A. (2002). Monochromatic aberrations provide an odd-error cue to focus direction. Journal of Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision 19, 833–839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhu, X. & Wallman, J. (2009). Temporal properties of compensation for positive and negative spectacle lenses in chicks. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 50, 37–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed