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The human retina has a cone-enriched rim

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

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

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.

Type
Rapid Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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