A chamber preserving cellular function of the isolated rabbit retina suited for extracellular and intracellular...

The isolated retina of rabbit lies on nylon tissue fixed in a ring, which is placed in a chamber. The lower side of the retina, by choice the receptor or ganglion cell side, is superfused by a plasma saline mixture kept at 35 degrees C. At the upper side of the retina, warm humidified oxygen is added. The two sides are isolated from each other by a rubber joint. ERGs with b waves of about 1 mV indicate a good function of retinal cells. The receptor potential is recorded extracellularly between an intraretinal microelectrode and a reference electrode at the receptor side (amplitude typically about 300 microV). The few intracellular records were hyperpolarizations to white and red light with an initial overshoot and a plateau.