Wehave estimated the total number, distribution and peak density of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in retinal wholemounts of several species of microchiropteran (echolocating) bats. The estimates are based on counts of Nissl-stained, presumed RGCs. The total number of presumed RGCs varies among the species: from about 4,500 in Rhinolophus rouxi to about 120,000 in Macroderma gigas. In addition, in two species (Nyctophilus gouldi and M. gigas), the estimates are based on counts of positively identified RGCs retrogradely labelled with the enzyme horseradish peroxidase injected into the retinorecipient nuclei. In these two species, the numbers and distributions of retrogradely labelled RGCs and Nissl-stained presumed RGCs are very similar. In all six species studied, the peak-density regions of presumed (or positively identified) RGCs are located in the inferotemporal retinae, and the RGC isodensity lines tend to be horizontally elongated. However, the RGC densities in the high-density regions are only 2–4 times greater than those in the low-density regions in the superior retinae. The somal sizes of RGCs vary from 5 to 16 µm in diameter and are unimodally distributed. There is no indication of the existence of distinct morphological classes of RGCs. The axial lenghts of microchiropteran eyes vary from 1.8 mm in R. rouxi to 7.0 mm in M. gigas. For all species the posterior nodal distance (PND) was assumed to be 0.52 of the axial length of the eye. This assumption is based on the analysis of published data concerning schematic eyes of nocturnal vertebrates. These derived values of the PNDs allowed us to calculate the retinal magnification factors and the number of RGCs per degree of visual angle. From these, the upper limits of visual acuity were derived on the basis of the assumptions of the sampling theorem. The estimated upper limits of visual acuity of the six species of echolocating bats vary from about 0.35 cycles/degree in R. rouxi to about 2 cycles/degree in M. gigas. This range is quite similar to the range of visual acuities in murid rodents.

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Labeled ganglion cells were studied in whole-mount retinas of Old World monkeys after electrophoretic injections of horseradish peroxidase into physiologically characterized sites. A number of different morphological classes have been identified, each of which has a distinctive pattern of central projection. Since different functional classes of primate retinal ganglion cells also have distinctive patterns of central projection, correspondences between functional and morphological cell types have been inferred. There prove to be parallels between morphological types of cat monkey ganglion cells.

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The central projections of different groups of cat retinal ganglion cells were studied following small iontophoretic injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into physiologically characterized sites. Analysis was restricted to labeled cells in the upper periphery of the nasal retina, contralateral to the injection site. Injections were made to the A lamina and C lamina of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd-A,C), the geniculate wing (LGNd-W), the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNv), the pretectum (PT), and the superior colliculus (SC). The dendritic fields of alpha, beta, and epsilon cells were well labeled by the procedures we employed. A group, termed "g1," had somal sizes within the range of the smaller beta and epsilon cells, but dendritic morphologies distinct from either class. The g1 group may consist of a number of types, but our material provided no basis for further distinguishing them. Many cells were observed that had smaller somas; all had thin axons, and few had dendritic fields that labeled to any significant extent. We were not able to further distinguish these cells, and refer to this group, which may include a number of types, as "g2" cells. From the peripheral nasal retina, alpha cells project to LGNd-A, LGNd-C, PT, and SC. Beta cells project to LGNd-A, LGNd-C, and PT. Epsilon and g1 cells project to the LGNd-C, LGNd-W, LGNv, PT, and SC. We determined the total spatial density of cells in the region of the retina analyzed, using a Nissl-stained preparation. We then estimated the relative fraction of cells in each of the above groupings by injecting HRP throughout a cross section of the optic tract. Multiplying this relative fraction by the total spatial density gave an estimate of the spatial density of each of these groupings. From the spatial density of cells labeled from the injection site, we were able to estimate the fraction of cells of each retinal grouping that project to each of the zones investigated. By these calculations, almost all alpha cells from the upper nasal retina project to LGNd-A and LGNd-C; most project to SC, and about a third to PT. Beta cells, by contrast, project almost exclusively to LGNd-A, with about 10% going to LGNd-C, and about 1% to the PT. The great majority of epsilon cells, if not all, project to LGNd-W, and up to half of this population also project to the other zones noted above.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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It has been shown in a number of previous studies that in adult cats discrete retinal lesions induce a reorganization of visuotopic maps in that part of striate cortex (area 17; V1) in which the lesioned part of the retina was represented (Kaas et al. 1990;Chino et al. 1992Chino et al. , 1995Gilbert & Wiesel, 1992;Darian-Smith & Gilbert, 1995;Schmid et al. 1995Schmid et al. , 1996Calford et al. 1999). Projected onto area 17, these lesions represented an area (lesion projection zone; LPZ) typically 3 to 5 mm in diameter, within which the visual receptive fields of many neurones were displaced to normal retina immediately adjacent to the lesioned retina. So far the studies of this issue have covered three experimental protocols: (1) matched homonymous retinal lesions have been made in the two eyes (Gilbert & Wiesel, 1992;Chino et al. 1995;Darian-Smith & Gilbert, 1995); (2) a retinal lesion has been placed in one eye while the other has been enucleated (Chino et al. 1992;Schmid et al. 1996); and (3) a retinal lesion has been made monocularly while the retina in the other eye remained intact (Chino, 1992;Schmid et al. 1996). The topographical extent of the retinal lesioninduced plasticity in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) is very small and therefore presumably incapable of providing a substrate for the extensive reorganization of the visuotopic map in the cortex (Eysel et al. 1981; DarianSmith & Gilbert, 1995). It is therefore generally agreed that the apparent topographic reorganization observed in studies with the 1st and 2nd experimental protocols, is based on plasticity at the cortical level and that the most likely source Journal of Physiology (2000) 1. In eight adult cats intense, sharply circumscribed, monocular laser lesions were used to remove all cellular layers of the retina. The extents of the retinal lesions were subsequently confirmed with counts of á_ganglion cells in retinal whole mounts; in some cases these revealed radial segmental degeneration of ganglion cells distal to the lesion. 2. Two to 24 weeks later, area 17 (striate cortex; V1) was studied electrophysiologically in a standard anaesthetized, paralysed (artificially respired) preparation. Recording single-or multineurone activity revealed extensive topographical reorganization within the lesion projection zone (LPZ). 3. Thus, with stimulation of the lesioned eye, about 75% of single neurones in the LPZ had 'ectopic' visual discharge fields which were displaced to normal retina in the immediate vicinity of the lesion. 4. The sizes of the ectopic discharge fields were not significantly different from the sizes of the normal discharge fields. Furthermore, binocular cells recorded from the LPZ, when stimulated via their ectopic receptive fields, exhibited orientation tuning and preferred stimulus velocities which were indistinguishable from those found when the cells were stimulated via the normal eye. 5. However, the responses to stimuli presented via ectopic discharge fields were generally weaker (lower peak discharge rates) tha...