Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2012 Apr;204(4):479-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.2011.02355.x. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
Vision is the most important of the senses for humans, and the retina is the first stage in the processing of light signals in the visual system. In the retina, highly specialized light-sensing neurons, the rod and cone photoreceptors, convert light into neural signals. These signals are extensively processed and filtered in the subsequent retinal network before transmitted to the higher visual centres in the brain, where the perception of viewed objects and scenes is finally constructed. A key feature of signal processing in the mammalian retina is parallel processing. Visual information is segregated in parallel pathways already at the rod and cone photoreceptor terminals, which provide multiple output synapses for the faithful encoding and transfer of the visual signals to the post-receptoral retinal network. This review aims at highlighting the current knowledge about the structural and functional pre- and post-synaptic specializations of rod and cone photoreceptor ribbon synapses, which belong to the most complex chemical synapses in the central nervous system.
视觉对于人类来说是最重要的感觉，而视网膜是视觉系统中处理光信号的第一阶段。在视网膜中，高度专业化的光感受器神经元，即视杆和视锥光感受器，将光转化为神经信号。这些信号在随后的视网膜网络中被广泛处理和过滤，然后传输到大脑中的更高视觉中心，在那里最终构建出对观察到的物体和场景的感知。哺乳动物视网膜中信号处理的一个关键特征是并行处理。视觉信息在视杆和视锥光感受器末端已经在平行途径中分离，这些末端为视觉信号的忠实编码和传递到后受体视网膜网络提供了多个输出突触。本综述旨在强调关于视杆和视锥光感受器带状突触的前突触和后突触结构和功能特化的最新知识，这些突触属于中枢神经系统中最复杂的化学突触。
