Review of anatomy & physiology of the Retina

1. Review of anatomy & physiology of the Retina Dr. Ayesha Abdullah 14.12.2012

2. Learning outcomes By the end of this lecture the students would be able to; • Correlate the structural organization of the retina with its functions and development. • Identify structural landmarks on retinal photographs. • Name the investigations commonly employed for the assessment of retinal disorders.

3. Some questions • How do we see? • What are the similarities and differences between a camera and the eye? • Name part of the nervous system that can be visualized without any invasive procedure? • Why is the optic disc referred to as the blind spot? • Have you noticed tiny bright moving dots when looking into the blue sky? • If the photoreceptor had been anteriorly placed, what would have happened? • How do we know its day/ night? • How does the brain regulate circadian rhythms?

4. Camera and the eye

5. Unlike the image from a camera the resolution of the retinal image is not uniform. • Why? • What is the result? • There are about 100 times more photoreceptors than the Ganglion cells. • Retina compresses images as unlike the camera.

6. Anatomical landmarks of the retina

9. Normal dimensions

14. Histological structure of the retina

17. Development of the retina

18. Functions of the retina • Light perception • Brightness appreciation • Contrast sensitivity • Two point discrimination and appreciation of details • Colour perception • Light and dark adaptation • Circadian rhythms & hormonal balance

19. Some important facts • There are about 150 million receptors and only 1 million optic nerve fibers, there must be convergence and thus mixing of signals • The horizontal action of the horizontal and amacrine cells can allow one area of the retina to control another (e.g., one stimulus inhibiting another). This inhibition is key to the sum of messages sent to the higher centers of the brain. • The response of cones to various wavelengths of light is called their spectral sensitivity • There are blue, green, and red cones but more accurately short, medium, and long wavelength sensitive cone subgroups- trichromatic vision • The receptive field of a sensory neuron is a region of space in which the presence of a stimulus will alter the firing of that neuron • The receptive field of a Ganglion cell in the retina of the eye is composed of input from all of the photoreceptors which synapse with it, and a group of ganglion cells in turn forms the receptive field for a cell in the brain. This process is called convergence.

20. vitreous RPE

23. Rods & Cones • Rod System • Achromatic • High convergence • High light sensitivity • Low visual acuity • Cone System • Chromatic • Low convergence • Low light sensitivity • High visual acuity

24. Direction of visual impulse Direction of light

26. Investigations for retinal structural and functional assessment • Clinical assessment- Ophthalmoscopy

27. Ophthalmic investigations • Ultrasound –B & A scans • Ocular coherence tomography (OCT) • Angiography • Elctroretinogram • Elctro-oculogram

29. OCT

30. Angiography

31. Electroretinogram

32. Homework • What is the blood supply of the inner and outer retinal layers? • What makes the inner and outer retinal blood barriers and what is their significance? • E mail me at, the answer should not more than 04 lines. msqheartline@hotmail.com