Abstract
The eye of a cat grows significantly between birth and adulthood. Part of this growth occurs after the kitten has begun to exhibit visually guided behavior. Both the neural retina and the optical components of the eye participate in the growth. Unless these two components of the eye grow at the same rate, individual retinal neurons will receive spatial information from different amounts of the visual world at different times. Measurements of dendritic fields of retinal ganglion cells, specifically beta cells, show that many beta cells have reached their adult size at three weeks after birth, many weeks before the optical components of the eye are mature. Thus, the amount of visual world from which a ganglion cell receives spatial information must gradually decrease as the optical components of the eye grow. Measurements of the receptive-field center size of ganglion cells from kittens of various ages provide additional support for this idea.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bonds, A. B., and R. D. Freeman (1978). Development of optical quality in the kitten eye. Vision Res. 18:391–398.
Boycott, B. B., and H. Wässle (1974). The morphological types of ganglion cells of the domestic cat’s retina. J. Physiol. 240:397–419.
Brown, J. E., and D. Major (1966). Cat retinal ganglion cell dendritic fields. Exp. Neurol. 15:70–78.
Cleland, B. G., W. R. Levick, and K. J. Sanderson (1973). Properties of sustained and transient ganglion cells in the cat retina. J. Physiol. 228:649–680.
Cragg, B. G. (1975). The development of synapses in the visual system of the cat. J. Comp. Neur. 160:147–166.
Donovan, A. (1966). The postnatal development of the cat retina. Expt’l. Eye Res. 5:249–254.
Freeman, R. D., and C. E. Lai (1978). Development of the optical surfaces of the kitten eye. Vision Res. 18:399–407.
Hughes, A. (1976). A supplement to the cat schematic eye. Vision Res. 16:149–154.
Johns, P. R., and S. S. Easter (1977). Growth of the adult goldfish eye. II. Increase in retinal cell number. J. Comp. Neur. 176:331–342.
Levick, W. R. (1975). Form and function of cat retinal ganglion cells. Nature 254:659–662.
Morrison, J. D. (1977). Electron microscopic studies of developing kitten retina. J. Physiol. 273:91–92P.
Nelson, R., E. V. Famiglietti, and H. Kolb (1978). Intracellular staining reveals different levels of stratification for on-and off-center ganglion cells in cat retina. J. Neurophysiol. 41:472–483.
Norton, T. T. (1974). Receptive-field properties of superior colliculus cells and development of visual behavior in kittens. J. Neurophysiol. 37:674–690.
Rusoff, A. C., and M. W. Dubin (1977). Development of receptive-field properties of retinal ganglion cells in kittens. J. Neurophysiol. 40:1188–1198.
Rusoff, A. C., and M. W. Dubin (1978). Kitten ganglion cells: dendritic field size at 3 weeks of age and correlation with receptive field size. Invest. Ophthalmol. Visual Sci. 17:819–821.
Thorn, F., M. Gollender, and P. Erickson (1976). The development of the kitten’s visual optics. Vision Res. 16:1145–1150.
Tucker, G. S. (1978). Light microscopic analysis of the kitten retina: postnatal development in the area centralis. J. Comp. Neur. 180:489–500.
Vakkur, G. J., P. O. Bishop, and W. Kozak (1963). Visual optics in the cat, including posterior nodal distance and retinal landmarks. Vision Res. 3:289–314.
Vogel, M. (1978). Postnatal development of the cat’s retińa. Adv. Anat. Embryol. Cell Biol. 54:1–66.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1979 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rusoff, A.C. (1979). Development of Ganglion Cells in the Retina of the Cat. In: Freeman, R.D. (eds) Developmental Neurobiology of Vision. NATO Advanced Study Institutes Series, vol 27. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3605-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3605-1_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-3607-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-3605-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive