Abstract
FROM the histological point of view the retina may be regarded as a nervous centre, a piece of the brain, projected on the surface of the body. With other centres it shares the property of responding to stimulation with slow potential changes. Thus, when light falls on the eye, the corneal electrode becomes positive with respect to an electrode behind the eye (vertebrate eye with inverted retina). This change coincides with the appearance of impulses in the optic nerve. Negativity of the corneal electrode coincides with inhibition of the discharge in the nerve1. Below we are only interested in the initial positive phase of the retinal response, called the b-wave (see Fig. 1), known to be a measure of excitation.
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References
Granit, ” Die Elektrophysiologie der Netzhaut und des Sehnerven ”, Acta ophth., Kbh., Supp. 8 (Levin and Munksgaard, 1936).
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GRANIT, R. The Retinal Centre as an Amplifier of Potential Differences. Nature 139, 719 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139719a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139719a0
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