In 1895, by means of the Golgi method, Santiago Ramón y Cajal
discovered a cell having a unique morphology in the avian retina. This
cell had its cell body in the amacrine cell level of the inner nuclear
layer, only a few rudimentary dendrites at the outermost level of the
inner plexiform layer (IPL), and a long axon coursing horizontally and
terminating in the IPL. Despite having defined amacrine cells as cells
without axons, Cajal named this cell type “association amacrine
cell” (AAC). This discovery was not confirmed by other investigators
for nearly a century. Very recently, however, isthmo-optic target cells
(IOTCs), which receive the terminals of centrifugal fibers emanating from
the isthmo-optic nucleus, have been identified as one type of AAC. As
summarized and discussed in this review, the morphology of the AACs as
described by Cajal has been completely confirmed. However, since these
cells appear to be classical polarized, monoaxonal neurons and lack the
dendritic interactions that are typical of amacrine cells, they should be
regarded as a distinct type of retinal interneuron and not as amacrine
cells.