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The human retina has a cone-enriched rim

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Robert W. Williams
Robert W. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee, College of Medicine, Memphis
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Abstract

Video-enhanced imaging of retinal wholemounts reveals an abrupt change in the composition of the photoreceptor mosaic at the edge of the human retina. Cone densities rise threefold and rod densities fall tenfold in a 1-mm-wide peripheral band. Antibodies directed against cones confirm the identification of the major subtypes of photoreceptors within this peripheral band. The cone-enriched rim is most highly developed along the nasal retinal margin, an area where the extreme lateral periphery of the visual field is imaged. This rim of cones may function as part of a rapid-acting alert mechanism under conditions of moderate and bright illumination.

Keywords

Human retinaCone densityCone-enriched rimRod densityOra serrata

Information

Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , April 1991 , pp. 403 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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