Impulse Discharges from the Retinal Nerve and Optic Ganglion of the Squid

Abstract

The papers of Dr. Dodt and Dr. Bornschein amply demonstrate the value of the comparative approach to the study of retinal function. The availability of conetype or rod-type retinas, which otherwise are essentially similar in their anatomical features, has permitted the differences in their responses to be attributed to differences in the receptors themselves. However, a direct study of receptor response would be more satisfactory if a suitable preparation could be found in which recordings could be made from single isolated receptor cells. Thus far no such vertebrate preparation has been found, and the search for an invertebrate preparation has been, till now, nearly as unsuccessful.

From the Thomas C. Jenkins Laboratory of Biophysics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.

The research described in this paper was supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. G-7086 and by a grant (No. A 2528) from the National Institutes of Arthritic and Metabolic Diseases, U.S. Public Health Service.