Photoreceptors

Photoreceptors

Photoreceptors

The photoreceptor cells are responding to light and convert the light signal into electrical potential called phototransduction. The photoreceptors pass on the electrical potential to the bipolar cell, which pass on the signal to the ganglion cells.

There are two classic photoreceptor cells, rods and cones. Rods are active during low light emission (scotopic vision), responsible for night vision. They are low in spatial acuity and not sensitive to colour. Cones are the counterpart to rods, they are active during high light emission (photopic vision), sensitive to colour and have high spatial acuity. The retina has a mixture of rod and cones, par the fovea which only has cones situated in it. The fovea is situated in the centre of the retina and is a little pit which is responsible for vision acuity (Kolb, 1995).

Antibodies that label photoreceptor cells

References

Kolb H, 1995. Photoreceptors, in: Kolb H, Fernandez E, Nelson R. (Eds.), Webvision: The Organization of the Retina and Visual System, Salt Lake City (UT).

Retinal Pigmented Epithelium (RPE)

Retinal Pigmented Epithelium (RPE)

Retinal pigment epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium sits on top of the retina and is connected to the photoreceptors to maintain visual function (Strauss, 2005) and it reduces the backscattering of the light (Purves, 2018).

Antibodies that label the Retinal Pigment Epithelium

References

Purves, D., et al. 2018. Neuroscience. 6th Edition, Sinauer Associates, New York.

Strauss O. 2005. The retinal pigment epithelium in visual function. Physiological Reviews. 85:845-881.

Müller glia

Müller glia

Müller glia

Müller glia (MG) cells stretch though all of retina layers, interacting with each of the cell types (Wang et al., 2017), maintaining and supporting the retina (Reichenbach and Bringmann, 2013). MG have a critical part in ageing, stress and disease, as the cells’ response to neuronal damage is inflammation, called gliosis, which contributes towards neurodegeneration (Bringmann and Wiedemann, 2012). Unlike in mammals retina (Salman, McClements and MacLaren, 2021)., MG in zebrafish retina can regenerate the retina (Martins et al., 2022). This regenerative ability is of particular importance as ageing hallmarks of the retina include neuronal loss, tissue thinning and ultimately vision loss (Eriksson and Alm, 2009; Salvi, Akhtar and Currie, 2006).

Antibodies that label the Müller glia

References

Bringmann A, Wiedemann P. 2012. Müller glial cells in retinal disease. Ophthalmologica. 227:1-19.

Eriksson U, Alm A. 2009. Macular thickness decreases with age in normal eyes: a study on the macular thickness map protocol in the Stratus OCT. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 93:1448-1452.

Martins RR, Zamzam M, Moosajee M, Thummel R, Henriques CM, MacDonald RB. 2022. Müller Glia maintain their regenerative potential despite degeneration in the aged zebrafish retina. Aging Cell. 21:1-20.

Reichenbach A, Bringmann A. 2013. New functions of Müller cells. Glia. 61:651-678.

Salman A, McClements ME, MacLaren RE. 2021. Insights on the regeneration potential of Müller glia in the mammalian retina. Cells. 10:1-12.

Salvi SM, Akhtar S, Currie Z. 2006. Ageing changes in the eye. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 82:581-587.

Wang J, O’Sullivan ML, Mukherjee D, Puñal VM, Farsiu S, Kay JN. 2017. Anatomy and spatial organization of Müller glia in mouse retina. Journal of Comparative Neurology. 525:1759-1777.

Bipolar cells

Bipolar cells

Bipolar cells

Bipolar cells receive electrical signal from the photoreceptors and pass these onto the ganglion cells. Their cell body is situated in the inner nuclear layer. There are at least 13 different kind of bipolar cells, each systematically modify the signal sent by the photoreceptors (Euler et al., 2014).

Antibodies that label the Bipolar cells

References

Euler T, Haverkamp S, Schubert T, Baden T. 2014. Retinal bipolar cells: elementary building blocks of vision.Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 15:507-519.

Horizontal cells

Horizontal cells

Horizontal cells

The horizontal cell body is located in the inner nuclear layer, its dendrites are connected with photoreceptors and modulating the signal sent between photoreceptors and bipolar cells. Most mammals have two kinds of horizontal cells (Chapot, Euler and Schubert, 2017).

Antibodies that label the Horizontal cells

References

Chapot C A, Euler T, Schubert T. 2017. How do horizontal cells ‘talk’ to cone photoreceptors? Different levels of complexity at the cone–horizontal cell synapse. The Journal of Physiology. 595:5495-5506.

Amacrine cells

Amacrine cells

Amacrine cells

The amacrine cell body is located in the inner nuclear layer. Amacrine cells are connected with the ganglion cells and therefore modulate the signal between the bipolar cells and the ganglion cells. There a many different kinds of amacrine cells, it is estimated that for each kind of ganglion cell, there are two different kinds of amacrine cells (Masland, 2012).

Antibodies that label the Amacrine cells

References

Masland R H. 2012. The tasks of amacrine cells. Visual Neuroscience. 29:3-9.

Ganglion cells

Ganglion cells

Ganglion cells

Ganglion cells are the last cells in the phototransduction cascade. They are situated it the ganglion cell layers, its dendrites are connected with bipolar and amacrine cells and its axon reaches via the optic chiasm, making up the optic nerve, to different parts of the brain. A large variety of ganglion cells have been identified, each of them being morphologically and functionally distinct. Each kind of ganglion cell receives its information from distinct neuronal circuit as every ganglion cell processes information sent from multiple photoreceptors (approximately 1:10) (Kim et al., 2021).

Antibodies that label the Ganglion cells

References

Kim US, Mahroo OA, Mollon JD, Yu-Wai-Man P. 2021. Retinal ganglion cells—diversity of cell types and clinical relevance. Frontiers in Neurology. 12:661938.