Wiring in a Cone-Only Retina

Recruitment of the Rod Pathway by Cones in the Absence of Rods Enrica Strettoi, Alan J. Mears, and Anand Swaroop.


In the retina, rods and cones form a distinct wiring diagram with specific second- and third-order neurons. Although the pathways eventually overlap at the ganglion cell layer, they are segregated at their initial inputs into rod- and cone-specific bipolar cells.


But what happens when rods, normally constituting >90% of photoreceptors, do not form and thus all photoreceptors are cones?


Amazingly the morphology, connectivity and transmission of rod bipolar neurons as well as horizontal and AII amacrine cells that normally receive rod input appeared to be neatly maintained when rods were replaced with cones.

The cone-only retinas were also light-sensitive.


Contact: Dawn McCoy

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Society for Neuroscience