Retinal Ganglion Cells

RETINAL GANGLION CELLS

Ganglion cells (RGCs) are the final output neurons of the vertebrate retina.  The ganglion cell axons form the nerve fiber layer of the inner retina as they coalesce to form the optic nerve head, which is composed of ganglion cell axons and glia that migrate into the optic nerve as well as astrocytes that are derived from the optic stalk. RGC axons cross the midline at the optic chiasm and arborize in distinct arborization fields or AFs. These neuropil areas correspond to 10 different retinorecipient brain nuclei the largest of which is the midbrain optic tectum. For a complete description of all the AFs and a lot more information on the neuroanatomy and function of RGCs see Robles et al., 2014).  

Schematic depicting the different cell types and layers that make up the neural retina in an adult zebrafish adapted from Baden et al., 2019. Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) have their cell bodies in the retinal ganglion cell layer and their dendrites in the inner plexiform layer where they synapse with amacrine and bipolar cells. RGC axons exit the eye as the optic nerve and innervate predominantly the optic tectum with some RGCs sending collaterals to the arborisation fields of the retino-fugal pathway.