Retinal and visual function returns following retinal destruction by ouabain in adult goldfish (Carassius auratus). Although the precise cellular mechanisms are unclear, the ability to regenerate CNS neurons and connections that subsequently sustain visual behavior is remarkable, especially for an adult vertebrate. In this paper, we ask whether visual stimulation via new retinal cells can activate existing cells in the optic tectum, which normally receives the largest retinal projection in this species. The right eyes of adult goldfish were injected with ouabain. After 1–18 weeks the conscious, freely moving fish were exposed to spatially and temporally varying visual stimuli and the resulting tectal metabolic activity was determined with the autoradiographic deoxyglucose method. In normal controls without lesions, visual stimulation produced equally strong metabolic activity in both tectal hemispheres, peaking in the layer where most retinotectal projections terminate (N = 6). One week after ouabain injection, metabolic activity in the contralateral, deprived tectum was dramatically reduced (N = 5), closely resembling the effect of unilateral ocular enucleation (N = 5). However, 9–18 weeks after ouabain injection, metabolic activity in the deprived tectum recovered to a level that was statistically indistinguishable from normal controls (N = 6). These findings suggest that, after a comprehensive cytotoxic lesion of the retina, regenerated ganglion cells not only establish new connections with the preexisting optic tectum, but also effectively transmit visual information they receive from newly generated photoreceptors to the “old” tectum.

Adult teleost fish retinas can regenerate neurons following either surgical or pharmacological injury. The cellular milieu of the damaged retina within which regenerated neurons are produced might be different in these two model systems of retinal injury, and thus the phenotypic attributes of regenerated neurons in the two model systems might also differ. To determine if the phenotypic attributes of photoreceptors, and by extension the recovery of vision, are different between these two model systems, we compared the visual pigment content and morphology of photoreceptors derived from goldfish retinas of both models with control retina. Visual pigments—which consist of a protein moiety (opsin) and a chromophore—were analyzed in single, isolated photoreceptors using microspectrophotometric techniques. We report that visual pigments and photoreceptor morphologies in the surgical model closely matched those of native retina. In contrast, neither photoreceptor morphology nor visual pigment content matched closely in the pharmacological model. The results indicate that phenotypic attributes of photoreceptors can differ significantly between the two model systems of retinal regeneration, but that in both systems, rod- and cone-mediated visual functions can potentially be reestablished.

Color codes in VDT displays often contain sets of colors that are confusing to individuals with color-vision deficiencies. The purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals with color-vision deficiencies (color defectives) can perform as well as individuals without color-vision deficiencies (color normals) on a colored VDT display used in the railway industry and to determine whether clinical color-vision tests can predict their performance. Of the 52 color defectives, 58% failed the VDT test. The kappa coefficients of agreement for the Farnsworth D-15, Adams desaturated D-15, and Richmond 3rd Edition HRR PIC diagnostic plates were significantly greater than chance. In particular, the D-15 tests have a high probability of predicting who fails the practical test. However, all three tests had an unacceptably high false-negative rate (9.5–35%); so that a practical test is still needed.

It has been suggested that acetylcholine plays a role in contrast discrimination performance and the regulation of visual contrast gain (Smith, 1996). Since alcohol has been shown to reduce levels of acetylcholine and contrast sensitivity, the present study measured the effects of alcohol on contrast discrimination and explored whether the deficits could be explained as a consequence of reduction in contrast gain. Detection thresholds and contrast increment thresholds under placebo and alcohol (0.06% BAC) conditions were measured in six volunteers. Alcohol was found to impair both detection and discrimination of only high spatial frequencies. However, when the base contrasts used in the increment threshold task were equal multiples of detection threshold, no alcohol-induced changes in increment thresholds were obtained at any spatial frequency. We conclude that alcohol impairs contrast discrimination performance but that no change in contrast gain mechanisms need be postulated to account for the data.

Flash stimulation elicits a visual evoked potential (VEP) as part of the electroencephalogram (EEG). This VEP is known to contain strong oscillatory activity around 120 Hz, which ceases 100 ms after the flash. It was unclear so far whether this time limit represents an averaging artifact due to loss of intertrial phase coherence or indicates a veridical cessation. Here we present results obtained from single-trial analysis of the EEG. These show that the oscillations exhibit virtually perfect phase locking and do in fact cease around 100 ms after the stimulus. Thus, the cessation of oscillatory activity in the VEP is not due to increasing intertrial phase jitter. Comparison with simultaneous retinal recordings exclude the possibility of direct crosstalk from the retina, but suggest that the oscillations are propagated from the retina to the cortex with a time lag of 48 ms.

To analyze the elemental composition and topology of the extracellular compartments of the compound eye, the eyes of blowflies Calliphora vicina were rapidly frozen and ultrathin cryosections were freeze dried. Three zones of an ommatidium, peripheral cytosol of visual cells, rhabdomeres, and ommatidial cavities were analyzed by X-ray microprobe analysis. The ommatidial cavity was found to contain sodium and potassium in proportion similar to that in the blowfly hemolymph. Potassium-to-sodium ratio in a cytosol was typical for a cytosol. The rhabdomeres displayed an electrolyte content intermediate between the above compartments. Three topologically connected extracellular compartments were characterized by the experiments with tracers, monastral blue and lanthanum: (1) common intercellular space of ommatidia including peripheral clefts between the visual cells, both tracers entered this compartment; (2) the ommatidial cavity, which is not accessible for monastral blue, however, as revealed by our X-ray microanalysis, it was reachable for lanthanum; (3) rhabdomeric loops, which were accessible for lanthanum entering either via the cavity or from the common intercellular clefts. The above characteristics of the ionic content and topology of ommatidial compartments might suggest higher sodium and lower potassium content in the microvilli as compared with the cytosol. The rhabdomeric and “cavital” plasma membranes are assumed to be permeable for these ions so that a voltage of only 25–30 mV, negative inside, is probably formed across them, much lower than the known resting potential −60 mV across the peripheral plasma membrane of a visual cell.

Current approaches to the problem of equating different colors for luminance (chromatic isoluminance) rely upon human reports of perceptual events that are reduced at some luminance ratio. In this report, a technique is described that evokes a vivid percept of motion of a textured pattern only at isoluminance. Furthermore, in both humans and monkeys, the moving stimulus produces a striking optokinetic response in the same direction as the perceived motion. If used in this manner, the technique can provide an estimate of chromatic isoluminance in a variety of species and be used to corroborate a human subjects's perceptual judgement.

We have examined the effects of neonatal monocular enucleation on the volume of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), the area of area 17, and the size and numbers of geniculate relay neurons identified by retrograde transport of HRP from cortex. Compared to values for normal animals, the only significant change contralateral to the remaining eye was an increase in relay cell radius. The effects ipsilateral to the remaining eye were more widespread: we found significant reductions in the volume of the dLGN (27% reduction), the area of striate cortex (22%), and the number (16%) and average soma radius (6%) of geniculate relay neurons. The relay neurons were also more densely packed, suggesting that other geniculate cell types were affected similarly, although this was not explicitly examined. These changes were not uniform throughout the nucleus, and as such, reflected the changes in retinal input. The greatest reduction in cell size occurred in the region of the ipsilateral dLGN receiving the most sparse retinal input subsequent to enucleation. Nor was the shrinkage of the dLGN uniform, being most apparent in the coronal plane especially along the axis orthogonal to the pia; there appeared to be little change in the anteroposterior extent. Shrinkage in area 17 ipsilateral to the remaining eye was the same (about 22%) whether it was defined by myelin staining or transneuronal transport of WGA-HRP. These results show that the transneuronal changes seen in the organization of visual cortex after early monocular enucleation in rodents are associated with only a moderate loss of geniculate relay cells.

The distribution of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in the lateral eye and brain of the horseshoe crab was investigated with histochemical means using standard controls to eliminate butyrylcholinesterase and nonspecific staining. Intense staining was observed in the neural plexus of the lateral compound eye, in the lateral optic nerve, and in various neuropils of the brain. Nerve fibers with moderate to weak staining were widespread in the brain. No sornata were stained in either the lateral eye or the brain. The distribution of acetylcholinesterase in the supraesophageal ganglia and nerves of the giant barnacle was also investigated for comparison. Although both the median optic nerve of the barnacle and the lateral optic nerve of the horseshoe crab appear to contain the fibers of histaminergic neurons, only the lateral optic nerve of the horseshoe crab shows AChE staining. Other parts of the barnacle nervous system, however, showed intense AChE staining. These results along with the histochemical controls eliminate the possibility that some molecule found in histaminergic neurons accounted for the AChE staining but support the possibility that acetylcholine might be involved as a neurotransmitter in lateral inhibition in the horseshoe crab retina. Two reasonable neurotransmitter candidates for lateral inhibition, histamine and acetylcholine, must now be investigated.

The relative timing of a number of events during the development of the visual system has recently been suggested to be consistent across a number of mammalian species (Dreher & Robinson, 1988). Some conflicting reports, however, had suggested that the precocial guinea pig might represent an exception to the generalized scheme. A quantitative study was thus carried out on the development of the optic nerve and retina of the guinea pig. Consistent with the prediction of a stable relative time course of mammalian visual development, axons and growth cones were found in the optic stalk from the 24th postconceptional day (40% of the period from conception to eye opening —the cecal period), the peak number of axons was observed on the 32nd postconceptional day (56% of the cecal period), and the phase of rapid axonal loss extended to the 39th and 42nd postconceptional days (68–74% of the cecal period). The number of axons in the adult optic nerve (117,000) represented about 37% of the peak number of axons. Additional observations indicated that during development of the optic nerve the mean axonal diameter increased approximately threefold from 0.31 μm to 1.06 μm. As in other mammals studied so far, myelination was first noted after the period of rapid axonal loss and continued until in the adult 97% of axons were found to be myelinated. In the retina, the presence of pyknotic profiles in the ganglion cell layers extends throughout the periods of loss of the optic nerve axons. Finally, the presence of pyknotic profiles in the amacrine sublayer suggest that in the guinea pig, as in other mammalian species, there is a loss of displaced amacrine cells as well as ganglion cells from the ganglion cell layer.

Second messengers are involved in a number of cellular responses to a variety of stimuli. Diffusion of these second messengers likely will determine the speed and efficiency of such responses. Localization, particularly in large cells, would enhance the efficiency of such transduction systems by restricting the volume in which this diffusion takes place and thereby limiting the diffusion of soluble messengers. Phototransduction in Limulus ventral photoreceptors involves second-messenger systems; the volume of this cell is quite large, but the effect of a single photoexcited rhodopsin molecule is exerted over light-dependent channels localized within a very small area of the plasma membrane. In order to investigate localization of phototransduction in these photoreceptors, we have compared the light responses of small vesicles (photoballs) excised from these cells with those of the intact photoreceptors. We found that the basic kinetics of excitation and adaptation of the photoballs are essentially identical to those of the intact cell. This indicates that all of the necessary machinery for phototransduction is present and intact in the photoball and that any diffusion of second messengers that affect the normal light response of the cell must occur within a region at least as small as our photoballs (on the order of 1 μm3).

Limulus lateral eyes shed and renew a portion of their photosensitive membrane (rhabdom) daily. Shedding, in many species including Limulus, is regulated by complex interactions between circadian rhythms and light. Little is known about how circadian clocks and photoreceptors communicate to regulate shedding. Limulus photoreceptors do not contain an endogenous circadian oscillator, but rely upon efferent outflow from a central clock for circadian timing. To investigate whether the putative efferent neurotransmitter octopamine (OA) communicates circadian rhythms that prime the lateral eye for transient rhabdom shedding, we decoupled photoreceptors from the clock by transecting the lateral optic nerve (contains the retinal efferent fibers). Overnight (6 h) intraretinal injections of 40 μM OA restored transient shedding to lateral eyes with transected nerves to levels comparable to those of intact internal control eyes. To determine whether OA acts alone in communicating circadian rhythms that prime the lateral eye for transient shedding, we “primed” eyes with intact nerves for transient shedding with exogenous OA during subjective day. In nature, lateral eyes shed their rhabdoms only once a day at dawn following overnight efferent priming. Eyes in animals placed in darkness during subjective day, when the retinal efferents are quiescent, and injected for 6 h with 40 μM OA shed their rhabdoms in response to a second introduction to light. Untreated control eyes of the same animals did not. The same results were observed in vitro in lateral eyes treated similarly. Octopamine is the only efferent neurotransmitter/messenger required to make lateral eyes competent for transient shedding. Phentolamine, an OA receptor antagonist, reduced the number of photoreceptors primed for transient shedding and the amount of rhabdom shed in those photoreceptors suggesting that OA acts via a specific OA receptor.

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have been shown to be involved in the modulation of retinocollicular neurotransmission. In glaucoma, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) degenerate, which may have an implication on this transmission as the superior colliculus is their major central target in the much-used rodent models of the disease. We have investigated this using an in vitro slice preparation of the superior colliculus by eliciting field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) through optic tract stimulation in a rat ocular hypertension model of glaucoma. Application of the group III mGluR agonist L-AP4 reduced the peak amplitude of the fEPSP in superior colliculus slices through presynaptic mechanisms as previously shown in our lab. At 3 and 16 weeks after surgery, there were no significant differences in the effect of L-AP4 on fEPSP peak amplitude in the superior colliculus slices receiving input from the glaucomatous eyes [elevated intraocular pressure (IOP)] compared to those with input from the unoperated eyes (normal IOP). However, at 32 weeks, the fEPSP peak amplitude was reduced to a significantly greater degree during L-AP4 application in the elevated IOP slices compared to normal IOP slices. At all time points, there were no significant changes in the baseline amplitudes of fEPSPs or the stimulus intensities required to evoke fEPSPs. These results suggest that the modulation of synaptic transmission through group III mGluRs on RGC terminals to the superior colliculus is changed at later stages due to RGC degeneration through IOP elevation. These changes may be compensatory changes possibly through plasticity in the RGC terminals of surviving cells, which may be due to increases in the numbers of group III mGluRs. This result may have implications on further treatment studies carried out using these models of glaucoma as changes in the central visual system may need to be considered along with the retinal changes that occur.

In the retina, rod bipolar (RBP) cells synapse with many rods, and suppression of rod outer segment and synaptic noise is necessary for their detection of rod single-photon responses (SPRs). Depending on the rods’ signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the suppression mechanism will likely eliminate some SPRs as well, resulting in decreased quantum efficiency. We examined this synapse in rabbit, where 100 rods converge onto each RBP. Suction electrode recordings showed that rabbit rod SPRs were difficult to distinguish from noise (independent SNR estimates were 2.3 and 2.8). Nonlinear transmission from rods to RBPs improved response detection (SNR = 8.7), but a large portion of the rod SPRs was discarded. For the dimmest flashes, the loss approached 90%. Despite the high rejection ratio, noise of two distinct types was apparent in the RBP traces: low-amplitude rumblings and discrete events that resembled the SPR. The SPR-like event frequency suggests that they result from thermal isomerizations of rhodopsin, which occurred at the rate 0.033/s/rod. The presence of low-amplitude noise is explained by a sigmoidal input–output relationship at the rod—RBP synapse and the input of noisy rods. The rabbit rod SNR and RBP quantum efficiency are the lowest yet reported, suggesting that the quantum efficiency of the rod—RBP synapse may depend on the SNR in rods. These results point to the possibility that fewer photoisomerizations are discarded for species such as primate, which has a higher rod SNR.

Modulation by two temporal frequencies differentiates visual processing at the fundamentals (1Fs), second harmonics (2Fs), and second-order intermodulation components (IMCs), the latter created neurally as the sum or difference of the two modulation frequencies. Steady-state VEPs were recorded while stereo-normal adults viewed luminance or grating stimuli modulated by up to three temporal frequencies under dichoptic, monocular, or ordinary (binocular) viewing conditions arranged using liquid crystal light shutters. In Experiment 1, modulation of luminance by a single temporal frequency produced strong 1F and 2F VEP components, but modulation of gratings produced only 2Fs. Modulation by two temporal frequencies resulted in IMCs, often in the absence of evoked activity in the EEC at the 1Fs. IMCs were generally larger during pattern as compared to luminance modulation. Amplitudes of 1Fs and IMCs were smaller, but 2Fs were larger, during dichoptic as compared to ordinary viewing. Although the 2F to a single modulation presented to one eye was not reduced when a second frequency was added to the opposite eye, monocular IMCs were diminished when a frequency was added to the opposite eye. We conclude that 2Fs and IMCs are associated with different neural substrates. Results are consistent with a two pathway model with one pathway having a nonlinear filter prior to binocular combination, the other pathway having a nonlinearity following binocular linear summation. Implications of these data for binocular function are discussed.

The morphological features of retinal terminals in cat brain were examined at sites where projections of W-type ganglion cells predominate. These included the parvicellular C laminae of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus, stratum griseum superficiale of the superior colliculus, and the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Positive identification of retinal terminals was achieved following anterograde transport of intravitreally injected native or wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase. In contrast to the classic features of retinal terminals as defined from sites where X- and Y-type ganglion cells predominate, i.e. round synaptic vesicles, large profiles, and pale mitochondria, substantial numbers of terminals in W-cell rich areas were found to contain dark mitochondria. Synaptic vesicles, although consistently round, were typically smaller in terminals with dark mitochondria than in those with pale mitochondria. These findings indicate a diversity among terminals of W-cells and suggest that such terminals cannot be distinguished on the basis of limited morphological criteria.

Taurine immunoreactivity (IR) in 1 -μm sections of glutaraldehyde-fixed human optic nerve was observed using light microscopy and an antibody raised in rabbit to taurine conjugated to bovine serum albumin. Throughout the nerve, taurine-lR was prominent in glial cells, in their perinuclear regions, and in their numerous branching processes, some of which extended to the pial septa. The peripheral glial mantle (glia limitans) was densely stained, whereas axons and the pial septa showed relatively little or no taurine-IR. Immunoreactivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an astrocyte-specific marker, was evaluated on adjacent sections. The pattern of GFAP-IR was highly similar to that for taurine, suggesting that a subset of taurine-immunoreactive glial cells are optic nerve astrocytes. To our knowledge, this is the first localization of taurine and GFAP in human optic nerve.

In normal viewing, the visual system effortlessly assigns approximately constant attributes of color and shape to perceived objects. A fundamental component of this process is the compensation for illuminant variations and intervening media to recover reflectance properties of natural surfaces. We exploited the phenomenon of transparency perception to explore the cortical regions implicated in such processes, using fMRI. By manipulating the coherence of local color differences around a region in an image, we interfered with their global perceptual integration and thereby modified whether the region appeared transparent or not. We found the major cortical activation due to global integration of local color differences to be in the anterior part of the parahippocampal gyrus. Regions differentially activated by chromatic versus achromatic geometric patterns showed no significant differential response related to the coherence/incoherence of local color differences. The results link the integration of local color differences in the extraction of a transparent layer with sites activated by object-related properties of an image.

Photoreceptors in the isolated turtle retina of two species of turtle, Chelydra serpentina and Pseudemus scripta elegans, were penetrated with double-barrel electrodes. Physiological responses were recorded through one barrel and Neurobiotin tracer was injected from the other. Intracellular injection of Neurobiotin revealed patterns of tracer-coupled photoreceptors. Both the patterns of tracer coupling and the electrophysiology suggest a high degree of specificity of connections. Rods seem to be coupled only to rods and green and red cones seem to be coupled to cones of the same spectral type. Receptive-field profiles, measured with a thin, sharply focused slit of light, often had well-defined peaks and troughs in sensitivity. We have taken advantage of this observation and used the position of a peak in sensitivity to locate the position on the retina of a coupled cell. In one rod, it was possible to correlate physiological and morphological data and to show that the peaks in the physiological receptive field occurred at positions on the retina where there were dye-coupled cells. This provides direct evidence that gap junctions produce the physiological coupling between rods.

Cone photoreceptors in the turtle retina are involved in intricate neuronal interactions with other retinal neurons that modify the responses of the cones to photons absorbed in their outer segments. Therefore, the action spectra of cones strongly depend upon the conditions of measurements. This study describes an attempt to derive the action spectra of turtle cones which are the least distorted by neuronal interactions. To achieve this goal, the photoresponses of cones and horizontal cells were recorded from the turtle retina under different conditions of adaptation using different patterns of the stimulating test flashes. The sensitivity action spectra, derived from small-amplitude (<1 mV) photoresponses, were strongly affected by the recording conditions indicating the contributions of multiple neuronal inputs. Action spectra, constructed from large criterion photoresponses, were less distorted by neuronal interactions and better described the spectral properties of the “isolated” cones. The action spectra of the hyperpolarizing inputs to chromaticity-type horizontal cells were derived by stimulating these cells with mixtures of a saturating red light and a monochromatic light of different wavelength and intensity. The action spectra were constructed from the intensity of the addend component needed to “pull down” the depolarizing response to the red component by a fixed criterion. These spectra, measured in red/green and yellow/blue C-type horizontal cells, are suggested to best represent the “isolated” M-cones and S-cones, respectively.