Summary
Three human retinae have been evaluated for size and distribution of ganglion cells from a study of whole-mount Nissl preparations. With the aid of a data processing program a number of statistical data on the distribution of cell sizes has been attained. The parafoveal region is occupied by small cells. The mean cell diameter increases up to 30° to 40° from the fovea and then decreases further into the periphery. Histograms show homogeneous cell sizes in central retina, but greater variations towards peripheral retina. As all histograms are of a unimodal shape, differentiation of cell groups is difficult. However, the majority of ganglion cells belong to the small to medium-sized cell class, while large cells, practically absent from parafoveal retina, are almost evenly distributed in peripheral retina.
The significance of our results for the α-, β-, γ-cell classification is discussed.
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Hebel, R., Holländer, H. Size and distribution of ganglion cells in the human retina. Anat Embryol 168, 125–136 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00305404
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00305404