Document Detail


Receptive field characteristics of neurons in the nucleus of the basal optic root in pigeons.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  10336057     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Optokinetic nystagmus is a reflex to stabilize an object image on the retina by compensatory eye movements. In lower vertebrates, the nucleus of the basal optic root participates in generating this reflex. Visual responses of 135 neurons were extracellularly recorded from the nucleus in pigeons and their receptive field properties were analysed on-line with a workstation. These cells could be categorized into slow (84%), intermediate (3%) and fast (13%) cells, preferring motion velocities of 0.25-8, 16 and 32-64 deg./s, respectively. Using whole-field gratings as stimuli revealed that 97% of the cells were selective for direction of motion and 3% were not. The directional cells preferred motion in the dorsoventral (35%), nasotemporal (34%), ventrodorsal (23%), or temporonasal (8%) directions. The omni-directional neurons were equally excited or inhibited by motion in all directions. The receptive field of basal optic neurons usually consisted of an excitatory receptive field and an inhibitory receptive field, both of which possessed opposite (heterodirectional) or identical (homodirectional) directionalities. In the case of homodirectional co-existence of both fields, whether whole-field gratings could produce visual responses from the cells would depend on the interaction between excitation and inhibition evoked in their excitatory and inhibitory receptive fields, respectively. Therefore, in some cases a single object was more effective than whole-field gratings in eliciting visual responses from basal optic neurons in pigeons. All of these receptive field properties revealed by on-line computer analysis may underlie the detection of optic flow and the induction of optokinetic responses.
Authors:
T Zhang; Y X Fu; J Hu; S R Wang
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Neuroscience     Volume:  91     ISSN:  0306-4522     ISO Abbreviation:  Neuroscience     Publication Date:  1999  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1999-08-02     Completed Date:  1999-08-02     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7605074     Medline TA:  Neuroscience     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  33-40     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Visual Information Processing, Institute of Biophysics, Academia Sinica, Beijing, PR China.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Basal Ganglia / cytology,  physiology*
Brain Mapping
Columbidae / physiology*
Evoked Potentials, Visual / physiology
Female
Iontophoresis
Male
Neurons / physiology*
Photic Stimulation
Stereotaxic Techniques
Visual Fields / physiology*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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