Title: Spatio-temporal vision of macaques with severe loss of P beta retinal ganglion cells.

Authors: Merigan, W H; Eskin, T A

Published In Vision Res, (1986)

Abstract: Anatomical and physiological studies indicate major structural and functional differences between the two parallel retinogeniculate visual pathways in the macaque. We have examined the contribution of these pathways to achromatic visual capacities by behaviorally testing spatio-temporal vision in monkeys with severe damage to the P beta (medium cell) pathway. This loss was produced by systemic administration of a neurotoxicant, acrylamide monomer, a treatment that apparently spares other visual system neurons. Monkeys dosed with acrylamide showed large reductions of contrast sensitivity at high spatial as well as low temporal frequencies. On the other hand, they had normal sensitivity for stimuli of high temporal, low spatial frequency. In addition, dosed monkeys retained normal flicker resolution thresholds for unpatterned stimuli. These findings suggest that the medium cell retinogeniculate pathway contributes primarily to the detection of higher spatial, lower temporal frequencies, while the large cell pathway is involved primarily in sensitivity to lower spatial and higher temporal frequencies.

PubMed ID: 3617516

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication