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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Patch Clamp Recording of Starburst Amacrine Cells in a Flat-mount Preparation of Deafferentated Mouse Retina
Published on: October 13, 2016
The area centralis in the chicken retina contains efferent target amacrine cells
Cynthia Weller1, Sarah H Lindstrom, Willem J De Grip
1College of Biological Sciences, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Abstract:
The retinas of birds receive a substantial efferent, or centrifugal, input from a midbrain nucleus. The function of this input is presently unclear, but previous work in the pigeon has shown that efferent input is excluded from the area centralis, suggesting that the functions of the area centralis and the efferent system are incompatible. Using an antibody specific to rods, we have identified the area centralis in another species, the chicken, and mapped the distribution of the unique amacrine cells that are the postsynaptic partners of efferent fibers. Efferent target amacrine cells are found within the chicken area centralis and their density is continuous across the border of the area centralis. In contrast to the pigeon retina then, we conclude that the chicken area centralis receives efferent input. We suggest that the difference between the two species is attributable to the presence of a fovea within the area centralis of the pigeon and its absence from that of the chicken.
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