News tagged with retina
Stress pathway identified as potential therapeutic target to prevent vision loss
A new study identifies specific cell-stress signaling pathways that link injury of the optic nerve with irreversible vision loss. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may le ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Optical Illusion experiment shows higher brain functions involved in pupil size control
(Medical Xpress) -- We all know that our pupils contract when our eyes are exposed to increases in the brightness of light. The reason is to both protect the delicate inner workings of our eyes and to help ...
Professor's research helps restore sight to the blind
Wolfgang Fink's research into artificial retinas helps restore some sight in blind patients with age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
Jan 23, 2012 |
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Transcriptional barcoding of retinal cells identifies disease target cells
(Medical Xpress) -- By developing a large scale gene expression map for retinal cell types, FMI Neurobiologists have been able to identify the cells in the retina, where the genes causing retinal diseases ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jan 23, 2012 |
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How the brain computes 3D structures
The incredible ability of our brain to create a three-dimensional (3D) representation from an object's two-dimensional projection on the retina is something that we may take for granted, but the process is not well understood ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jan 11, 2012 |
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Flexible adult stem cells, right there in your eye
In the future, patients in need of perfectly matched neural stem cells may not need to look any further than their own eyes. Researchers reporting in the January issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, have identi ...
Jan 05, 2012 |
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Study uncovers clues to what makes anesthetics work
Physicians use inhalation anesthetics in a way that is incredibly safe for patients, but very little is known about the intricacies of how these drugs actually work in children and adults. Now, researchers have uncovered ...
Dec 22, 2011 |
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ORNL image analysis prowess advances retina research
Armed with a new ability to find retinal anomalies at the cellular level, neurobiologists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have made a discovery they hope will ultimately lead to a treatment for cancer of the retina.
Dec 21, 2011 |
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Nanometer-scale growth of cone cells tracked in living human eye
Humans see color thanks to cone cells, specialized light-sensing neurons located in the retina along the inner surface of the eyeball. The actual light-sensing section of these cells is called the outer segment, which is ...
Dec 20, 2011 |
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Nanoparticles help researchers deliver steroids to retina
Hitching a ride into the retina on nanoparticles called dendrimers offers a new way to treat age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. A collaborative research study among investigators at Wayne State University, ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Dec 13, 2011 |
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New insights into how the brain reconstructs the third dimension
A new visual illusion has shed light on a long-standing mystery about how the brain works out the 3-D shapes of objects.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 07, 2011 |
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Scientists make advances in neuroscience and vision research
Thanks to a new study of the retina, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have developed a greater understanding of how the nervous system becomes wired during early development.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 06, 2011 |
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Why evolutionarily ancient brain areas are important
Structures in the midbrain that developed early in evolution can be responsible for functions in newborns which in adults are taken over by the cerebral cortex. New evidence for this theory has been found in the visual system ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 30, 2011 |
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Terminator-style info-vision takes step towards reality
The streaming of real-time information across your field of vision is a step closer to reality with the development of a prototype contact lens that could potentially provide the wearer with hands-free information ...
Nov 21, 2011 |
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Scientists solve mystery of the eye
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have a good overall understanding of human vision: when light enters our eyes, it is focused by the lens and strikes the retina in the back of the eye. The light causes some of ...
Retina
The vertebrate retina is a light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical events that ultimately trigger nerve impulses. These are sent to various visual centers of the brain through the fibers of the optic nerve.
In vertebrate embryonic development, the retina and the optic nerve originate as outgrowths of the developing brain, so the retina is considered part of the central nervous system (CNS).. It is the only part of the CNS that can be imaged non-invasively in the living organism.
The retina is a complex, layered structure with several layers of neurons interconnected by synapses. The only neurons that are directly sensitive to light are the photoreceptor cells. These are mainly of two types: the rods and cones. Rods function mainly in dim light and provide black-and-white vision, while cones support daytime vision and the perception of colour. A third, much rarer type of photoreceptor, the photosensitive ganglion cell, is important for reflexive responses to bright daylight.
Neural signals from the rods and cones undergo complex processing by other neurons of the retina. The output takes the form of action potentials in retinal ganglion cells whose axons form the optic nerve. Several important features of visual perception can be traced to the retinal encoding and processing of light.
For more information about Retina, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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