Abstract
Purpose :
The new findings in the intrinsic electrophysiology and light responses of retinal bipolar and ganglion cells suggest a new visual encoding model. This model could explain symptoms and signs of retinal diseases in human. We try to suggest this kind of model according to our research results in visual science and ophthalmology.
Methods :
We use the geometric and physical principles in explaining the light perceptions in retina. The rod/cone and melanopsin-expressed ganglion photoreceptors and their structures match the focused light source after the refractive system. A model system of spatiotemporal navigation in the light world fits these basic and clinical data well.
Results :
We define a four-dimensional light cone focused in the whole layer retina as the basic unit of light perception in retina. The conventional rod/cone photoreceptors sense the top part of the light cone while the melanopsin-expressed ganglion photoreceptors perceive its base, mainly time dimension. As a exquisite navigating organ in human and animal, the space localization with high resolution is mainly carried out by rod/cone-bipolar system. The ganglion photoreceptors manage time navigation (including day/night cycle and short-term period). The trig functions can explain the graded ON/OFF signal system for spatial localization in retinal bipolar cells. A series of more complicated functions, describing the temporal dimension, could grasp the spike signal system (including Ca2+ and Na+ spikes) in both the rod/cone-bipolar and ganglion photoreceptor pathways. The two perpendicular photoreceptor systems are designed for the four-dimensional light cone. Multiple parallel pathways in the curved retina are exploited to encode the spatiotemporal localization of four-dimension light cone according to relativity.
Conclusions :
Eye is a spatiotemporal navigating organ which is designed according to the spatiotemporal relativity theory.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.