Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle...

Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Meeting report for the Second International Conference on Unconventional Animal Models of Alzheimer's Disease and Aging (UAMAA 2026).

Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)·2026

Same author

VTA dopamine inputs activate accumbal D1 receptors to promote alcohol seeking.

iScience·2026

Same author

CIPHER: An end-to-end framework for designing optimized aggregated spatial transcriptomics experiments.

PLoS computational biology·2026

Same author

Nmur1 and Cckar fail to support functional genetic access in adult dopamine neurons and challenge GPCR atlas assignments.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Multi-Task Path-Based Heterogeneous Graph Model for Functional Brain Network Analysis and Gender-Related Diseases Diagnosis.

IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics·2026

Same author

Generalized hypoactivation with fronto-frontal hypercoactivation during response inhibition in pediatric ADHD.

Asian journal of psychiatry·2026

Same journal

The TaMYB55-TaSnRK1α1-TabZIP9 module confers heat stress tolerance in wheat.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same journal

Superstatistics approach to turbulent circulation fluctuations.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same journal

A molecular timescale for evolution of cobamide biosynthesis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same journal

Pierre Chambon, a pioneer of molecular biology and gene regulation in eukaryotes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same journal

Granulosa cell glycogen fuels the avascular corpus luteum.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same journal

Synthetic essentiality of TRAIL/TNFSF10 in VHL-deficient renal cell carcinoma.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2025

Single-cell Profiling of Developing and Mature Retinal Neurons

Single-cell Profiling of Developing and Mature Retinal Neurons

Published on: April 19, 2012

Spatial profiling of the interplay between cell type- and vision-dependent transcriptomic programs in the visual

Fangming Xie¹, Saumya Jain^1,2, Runzhe Xu¹

¹Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|February 13, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Early visual experience shapes how neurons organize in the mammalian brain. Visual deprivation alters gene expression in layer 2/3 (L2/3) cells, impacting their identity and spatial distribution in the visual cortex.

Keywords:

cortex gradients spatial transcriptomics transcriptomics vision

More Related Videos

Spatial Profiling of Protein and RNA Expression in Tissue: An Approach to Fine-Tune Virtual Microdissection

Spatial Profiling of Protein and RNA Expression in Tissue: An Approach to Fine-Tune Virtual Microdissection

Published on: July 6, 2022

Single-cell RNA-Seq of Defined Subsets of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Single-cell RNA-Seq of Defined Subsets of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Published on: May 22, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 28, 2025

Single-cell Profiling of Developing and Mature Retinal Neurons

Single-cell Profiling of Developing and Mature Retinal Neurons

Published on: April 19, 2012

Spatial Profiling of Protein and RNA Expression in Tissue: An Approach to Fine-Tune Virtual Microdissection

Spatial Profiling of Protein and RNA Expression in Tissue: An Approach to Fine-Tune Virtual Microdissection

Published on: July 6, 2022

Single-cell RNA-Seq of Defined Subsets of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Single-cell RNA-Seq of Defined Subsets of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Published on: May 22, 2017

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Biology
Genomics

Background:

The impact of early sensory experience on neocortical organization at the cellular level remains unclear.
Previous work showed that functional and molecular profiles of layer 2/3 (L2/3) cells in the primary visual cortex (V1) depend on visual input.
Understanding critical period plasticity is crucial for comprehending brain development.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the spatial organization of L2/3 cell types in V1 in relation to visual experience.
To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which visual deprivation affects L2/3 cell types.
To map the influence of vision on cortical cell-type distribution during development.

Main Methods:

Spatial transcriptomic profiling of V1 L2/3 cells using approximately 500 genes.
Comparison of gene expression and spatial organization between normally reared and dark-reared mice.
Integration of spatial transcriptomics with single-nucleus RNA sequencing data.

Main Results:

Spatial transcriptomics revealed the zonation of L2/3 cell types along the pial-ventricular axis in V1.
Visual deprivation induced two distinct transcriptomic changes: a cell state shift (orthogonal to cell identity) and a shift in cell-type identity within the L2/3 manifold.
The first gene program involved immediate-early genes and metabolic genes, while the second affected cell-type-specific genes.

Conclusions:

Visual experience is a key factor in patterning L2/3 cell types and their spatial organization in the V1 during critical developmental periods.
Multitasking theory provides a framework for understanding the continuous gene expression profiles and zonation of L2/3 cell types.
The study reveals distinct molecular mechanisms through which visual input shapes cortical circuitry at a cellular resolution.