Summary
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1.
An isolated, superfused eye-optic lobe preparation was used to study action potential activity in the optic nerves ofOctopus vulgaris.
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In intact nerves, responses to illumination take the form of sustained activity during illumination followed by an afterdischarge, often organised into bursts.
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3.
Afferent and efferent components of these responses have been separated by optic nerve section. The sustained response during illumination is predominantly composed of afferent action potentials in photoreceptor axons. The afterdischarge is efferent in origin. Multi-unit recordings of efferent activity from cut nerves show ‘on-off’ responses. The ‘off’ component is more pronounced than the ‘on’ component. The efferent ‘on’ activity recorded in this way, forms only a small proportion of the total response to illumination seen in intact nerves.
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Golgi impregnation has revealed the morphology of photoreceptors and the terminal arborizations of centrifugal neurons within the retina. Photoreceptors show short collateral fibres, anatomically suited for the mediation of lateral interactions between photoreceptors. Centrifugal neuron terminations can be classified into large and small field types on the basis of arborization morphology.
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Patterson, J.A., Silver, S.C. Afferent and efferent components ofOctopus retina. J. Comp. Physiol. 151, 381–387 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00623913
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00623913