Visual system

Lue JH

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Visual pathway

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Eyeball

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 Retinal landmark

Ora serrata : anterior border of retina

Optic papilla (optic disk) (blind spot): axon

of ganglion cells entering optic nerve; slightly
medial to posterior pole, 1.5 mm in diameter
Optic papilla
Macula lutea (yellow spot): central area of
Fovea retina in line with visual axis; 5 mm in diameter;
Macula lteau
lateral to optic papilla
a) large blood vessels are absent here
b) yellow pigment: xanthophylls, screen out some
blue part of visible spectrum

•Fovea: central depression of macula; 1.5mm in

diameter; no capillaries; greatest visual acuity;
only cones cells
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 Histological layers
1. Pigment epithelium
2. Layer of rods and cones: outer & inner
segments of rods and cones
3. Outer limiting membrane: row of zonulae
adherences= outer ends of Muller cells
make contact with photoreceptor cells
4. Outer nuclear layer: nuclei of rods & cones
5. Outer plexiform layer: rod & cone fibers &
postsynaptic neuritis of bipolar cells
6. Inner nuclear layer: nuclei of bipolar cells,
horizontal cells, amacrine cells
7. Inner plexiform layer: presynaptic neurites
of bipolar cells & postsynaptic dendrites of
ganglion cells
8. Ganglion cell layer
9. Nerve fiber layer: ganglion cells nerve fiber

10. Inner limiting membrane: expanded inner

ends of Muller cells 6
 Blood supply
Central artery of retina→
optic disk → branches on
inner surface of retina →
capillary network →outer
border of inner nuclear layer

Outer part of retina: from

pigment epithelium to
outer border of inner
nuclear layer; devoid of
capillaries
Capillary layer of choroid, separated from retina by Bruch’s glassy membrane

Bruch’s glassy membrane: basal lamina of pigment epithelium and

the inner layer of the choroids, small molecules diffuse through the
membrane to retina 7
 Pigment epithelium :a single layer of cells, absorb light.
a) cell processes: i) interdigitate with outer photosensitive regions of rods & cones; ii)
filled with melanin pigments & isolate individual receptor→ enhance visual acuity.
b) pigment epithelium is fixed to choroids, but not as firmly to neural layer of retina.

c) detachment of retina: separation of neural layer from pigment epithelium.

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 Photoreceptors
a) Inverted retina: light passes through retina before
reaching photoreceptors
b) Retina is transparent and no more than 0.4 mm thick.
c) Rods and cones

Rods (rod cells, bacilliform cells)

a) 130 million, 20 times the number of cones; absent from
central part of fovea (foveola): night blind.
b) important for peripheral vision.
c) more sensitive to dim light than cones.

Cones (cone cells) : visual acuity and

color vision
a) human retina: 7 million cones.
b) fovea: 100,000 cones , no rods
c) near ora serrata: a narrow zone, abundant
cones

Varies from fovea to retinal periphery

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Microscopic Anatomy of the Retina
Visual information flow is from
photoreceptors via bipolar cells
to ganglion cells
Horizontal cells: receive input
from the photoreceptors, to
influence surrounding bipolar
cells and photoreceptors
Amacrine cells: receive input
from the bipolar cells, to
influence surrounding ganglion
cells, bipolar cells and other
amacrine cells
Ganglion cells: the only source
of output from the retina 10
 Retinal processing
Only ganglion cells fire action potential; other cells with graded charges

Transformations in the outer plexiform layer

• Each photoreceptors is in synaptic
contact with bipolar cells and
horizontal cells
• Bipolar cells create the direct
pathway from photoreceptors to
ganglion cells
• Horizontal cells feed information
laterally in the outer plexiform
layer to influence the activity of
neighboring bipolar
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 Phototransduction cascade

• Light activated rhodopsin

• Rhodopsin activates phosphodiesterase (PDE) via G protein
• cGMP is metabolized
• cGMP gated action channels close due to decrease in [cGMP]
• Membrane is hyperpolarized 12
 Phototransduction
Phototransduction in Cones
• Similar to rod phototransduction
• Different opsins: red, green, blue

Color detection
• Contributions of blue, green, and
red cones to retinal signal
• Spectral sensitivity: blue, 430nm;
rods, 500nm; green, 530nm; red,
560nm
• Trichromacy theory

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 Retinal processing
Bipolar cell receptive fields
Two types of bipolar cells with different
glutamate receptor
• On bipolar cell (G protein -coupled)
• Depolarize to light ON
• Hyperpolarize to glutamate
• Special glutamate receptor (mGluR6)
is found only in these cells
• Off bipolar cell (classical)
• Hyperpolarize to light ON
• Depolarize to glutamate
• Because of the On and Off bipolar cells, many
neurons throughout the visual system respond
to light ON or Off 14
 Bipolar cell receptive fields
Center-surround receptive fields, circular

Receptive field center

• Direct photoreceptors
•One at the center of the fovea
•Thousands in peripheral retina
Receptive field surround
• Providing input via horizontal cells
Antagonistic center-surround receptive
fields
• On center: excitation by light in center,
inhibition by light in surround
• Off center: inhibition by light in center,
excitation by light in surround

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 Retinal output Types of ganglion cells
• P-type (Parvocellular), 90%
•Small receptive fields
•Slow adaptation, sustained discharge
•Specialized for acuity and color vision
• M-type (Magnocellular), 5%
•Large receptive fields
•Fast adaptation, transient burst of action
potential
• nonM-nonP type, 5%,

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Retinal output Color-opponent ganglion cells
• P-type (Parvocellular), 90%
•Red versus green
• M-type (Magnocellular), 5%
•Light versus dark

• nonM-nonP type, 5%
•Blue versus yellow

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 Pathway to visual cortex
Retina

Optic nerve

Optic chiasm

Optic tract

Lateral geniculate body

Primary visual cortex of occipital lobe 18

 Pathway to visual cortex

Optic Nerve
Each about 1 million fibers, all myelinated, which myelin sheath formed by
oligodendrocytes
Astrocytes; central artery and central vein of the retina
Optic Chiasm
Partial crossing of optic nerve fibers in optic chiasm→ binocular vision

Optic Tract
crossed fiber from the nasal (medial) half of each retina decussate in the
chiasm and join uncrossed fiber from the temporal (lateral) half of the
retina → lateral geniculate body (LGB) 19
The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

• Dorsal thalamus
• Six distinct layers of cells
• The most ventral, layer 1
• Bent around the optic tract
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 The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Segregation input by eye and by ganglion cell type
– Right LGN receives information about the left
visual field
– Ipsilateral on layers 2, 3, 5; contralateral on
layers 1, 4, 6
– Axons arising from the M-type, P-type, and
nonM-nonP ganglion cells in the two retinas
synapse on cells in different LGN layers
– Magnocellulars LGN layer are 1, 2;
parvocellular layers are 3 to 6; koniocellular
layers receive nonM-non P type ganglion cells
and are ventral to each layer
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The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

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 Geniculocalcarine tract

LGB→ sublentiform & retrolentiform parts of internal capsule →

around the lateral ventricle→ upper or lower temporal (Meyer’s)
loop → visual cortex above or below calcarine sulcus
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Visual cortex Primary visual cortex: upper &
lower lips of calcarine sulcus
on medial surface of cerebral
hemisphere.
Thin heterotypical cortex of
granular type (area 17); line of
Gennari; striate area

Visual association cortex: whole

occipital lobe, posterior part of
parietal lobe, posterior part of
lateral surface of temporal lobe,
much of the inferior surface of
temporal lobe

Function: recognition of objects,

perception of color & shape,
motion, other aspects 24
Anatomy of the Striate Cortex
Primary visual cortex, V1,
striate cortex
• Lamination of the striate
cortex, nine layers
•Layer IV: IVA, IVB, IVC,
IVC

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 Pathway to the visual cortex

The retinal image of an object in the visual field is inverted and reversed
from right to left, just as an image on the film in a camera is inverted and
reversed

1) left visual field→ right halves of the two retinas→ right lateral geniculate
body→ visual cortex of the right hemisphere
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 Pathway to the visual cortex

2) upper half of the visual field→ lower quadrants retina→ lateral part of
lateral geniculate body→ visual cortex below the calcarine sulcus

3) lower half of the visual field→ upper quadrants retina→ medial part of
lateral geniculate body→ visual cortex above the calcarine sulcus of
the occipital lobe
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 Pathway to the visual cortex

4) the macula→ posterior part of lateral geniculate

body→ post. 1/3 of visual cortex

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 Pathway to the visual cortex

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 Clinical note
visual defects caused by interruption of the pathway

1) right optic nerve:

blindness of right eye (trauma,
optic neuritis)
2) optic chiasm: complete
midline transection cause
bitemporal hemianopsia
(pituitary tumors,
craniopharyngiomas)

3) right angle of chiasm: right

nasal hemianopsia (pressure
by aneurysm of internal carotid
artery)

4) right optic tract: left homonymous hemianopsia (abscess or tumor of

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temporal lobe that compresses optic tract against the crus cerbri)
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Visual reflex
A small bundle of axons of optic tract
bypasses LGB → superior brachium→
6 superior colliculus, & pretectal area

Pupillary light reflex

7 flashlight→ eye→ constriction of pupil

Impulse from retina→ stimulate neurons of
pretectal nucleus → Edinger-Westphal
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nucleus of oculomotor complex→ ciliary
ganglion→ short ciliary nerve→ sphincter
pupillae muscle of iris

2 Light entering one eye→ both pupils

constrict
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1 a). each retina sends fibers into both
optic tracts
b). pretectal area sends fibers to the
9 contralateral as well as to the
ipsilateral Edinger-Westphal nucleus
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7 8 Accommodation reflex
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occurlar convergence, pupillary
constriction, thickening of lens
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a) medial rectus muscles contract
for convergence of the eye

b) contraction of ciliary muscle→

thicken lens

c) pulpillary constriction → sharpen

image in retina
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 Dilation of pupil
in response to severe pain or
strong emotional states

amygdala and hypothalamus→

intermediolateral cell column of
spinal cord → superior cervical
ganglion → postganglionic fibres
in carotid plexus → dilator
pupillae muscle in iris

Parasympathetic supply to sphincter

papillae muscle: inhibited

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 Visual system
Cone cell Rod cells

Horizontal cell

Bipolar cells Bipolar cell

Interplexiform cell

Amacrine cell
Ganglion cell Ganglion cell

Optic nerve
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 Ciliary m. Pupillary sphincter Medial rectus

Visual system
Ciliary ganglion Oculomotor n.

Visual field
Sup. brachium
Sup. Colliculus
Pretectal area
Retina E-W nucleus
Optic tract
LGB. Visual cortex
Nasal retina

Optic nerve Optic chiasm

Temporal retina
LGB. Visual cortex
Optic tract
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