Inhibitory periphery effect in geniculate neurons after elimination of specific retinogeniculate excitation

Stimulation of the outer periphery of a cell's receptive field with phase-reversing gratings leads to mainly excitatory phasic or tonic responses in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the cat. This lateral excitation is of retinal origin. Following destruction of the retinal receptive field area by localized photocoagulation, pure inhibitory periphery effects are observed in the majority of deafferented cells. This inhibition acts beyond the boundaries of the antagonistic receptive field and is based on neuronal mechanisms on the geniculate level.