A review of the neurophysiology of the turtle retina III. Amacrine and ganglion cells

Amacrine and ganglion cells are two large classes of inner retinal neurons of the vertebrate retina. Amacrine cells are a morphologically and neurochemically diverse class of axonless neurons, which are primarily involved in lateral retinal processing. In the inner plexiform layer, they engage in complex, often inhibitory, interactions with bipolar and ganglion cells. Two physiological classes of amacrine cells, transient and sustained types, have been distinguished. Ganglion cells in turtle retina comprise many functional subtypes including ON, OFF and ON‐OFF types. Many ganglion cells in turtle retina display complex receptive field properties, responding to movement, orientation and direction. Neural mechanisms underlying direction selective responses in retinal ganglion cells have come under particular scrutiny and are discussed in detail.