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Adult Macula Essay

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The adult macula is about 4.5–6 mm in diameter.The macula is located approximately 3 mm temporal to the optic disc and is about 1.5 mm (Kincaid and Green,1999)
The most central part of the macula, the fovea, is formed by 0.35 mmwide depression and represents the retinal region of greatest visual acuity . The fovea has the highest density of cone photoreceptors .The long axons of the foveal cones form Henle’s layer. The central 500 mm of the fovea contains no retinal capillaries (the foveal avascular zone [FAZ]), making the fovea dependent on blood supply from the choriocapillaries.( Curcio CA,1990) The ora serrata delineates the anterior termination of the sensory retina.

Cellular organization of the retina: …show more content…

2-Retinal pigment epithelium
3-Photoreceptor layer
4- External Limiting Membrane
5- Outer Nuclear Layer: which contains the nuclei of the photoreceptor cells.
6- Outer Plexiform Layer :where photoreceptor cells form connections with the bipolar and horizontal cells of the inner nuclear layers.
7- Inner Nuclear Layer: The horizontal cells are located along the outer limit of the inner nuclear layer while the amacrine faces the inner plexiform layer. The nuclei of the bipolar, interplexiform, and Müller cells are in intermediate positions.( Zhu M, Madigan MC and et al, 2000).
8- Inner Plexiform Layer: which contains networks between bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells.
9- Ganglion Cell Layer: which contains about 1.2 million ganglion cells .The thickness of the ganglion cell layer is greatest in the perifoveal macula, decreases to a single row outside the macula , and is absent from the foveola itself .( Kincaid MC and Green …show more content…

Also, photoreceptors interact with bipolar cells directly.In the central retina, the bipolar cells have a 1:1 ratio with cones and gangion cells. Diffuse bipolar cells receive input from multiple cones. The receptive fields of bipolar cells and ganglion cells are antagonistic with a center-surround organization.
OFF- bipolarcells are inactivated by light (they hyperpolarize) while ON- cells are activated (they depolarize).i.e.. OFF- bipolar cells are hyperpolarized by the hyperpolarization of the photoreceptor cell and depolarized by the depolarization of the photoreceptor and ON- bipolar cells respond to the hyperpolarization of photoreceptors in light with depolarization (activation) and to photoreceptor depolarization in darkness with hyperpolarization (inactivation).
All visual information converges on the ganglion cells. Most ganglion cells have a concentric receptive field with an antagonistic center-surround organization and form parallel ON- and OFF-pathways. The functional benefit of the antagonistic center-surround arrangement is the generation of enhanced contrast.( Wurtz RH and Kandel

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