Retina Horizontal Cell - Organization

Organization

There are three basic types of horizontal cells, designated HI, HII and HIII. The selectivity of these three horizontal cells, towards one of the three cone types, is a matter of debate. According to studies conducted by Boycott and Wassle neither HI cells nor HII cells were selective towards S,M, or L cones. By contrast, Anhelt and Kolb claim that in their observations HI cells connected to all three cone types indiscriminantly, however, HII cells tended to contact S cones the most. They also identified a third type of horizontal cell, HIII, which was identical to HI but did not make contact with S cones.

The HII cells also make connections with rods, but do so far enough away from the horizontal cell's soma such that they do not interfere with the activities of the cones.

They span across cones and summate inputs from them all to control the amount of GABA released back onto the photoreceptor cells, which hyperpolarizes them. Their arrangement together with the on-center and off-center bipolar cells that receive input from the photoreceptors constitutes a form of lateral inhibition, increasing spatial resolution at the expense of some information on absolute intensity. The eye is thus more sensitive to contrast and differences in intensity.

Horizontal cells and other retinal interneuron cells are less likely to be near neighbours of the same subtype than would occur by chance, resulting in ‘exclusion zones’ that separate them. Mosaic arrangements provide a mechanism to distribute each cell type evenly across the retina, ensuring that all parts of the visual field have access to a full set of processing elements. MEGF10 and MEGF11 transmembrane proteins have critical roles in the formation of the mosaics by horizontal cells and starburst amacrine cells in mice.