Backwards retina:new role for rods (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 15:48 (3449 days ago) @ David Turell

New research continues to rebuff the atheist argument that a proper thinking God would never have designed such a weird retina:-"The scientists showed that in bright light, the rods mediate a so called surround inhibition. Surround inhibition is an important feature in the retina because it allows not only to transmit information about whether a photoreceptor is exposed to light, but also about contrast. While the cone cells hyperpolarize in bright light and thus send a visual signal to the inner retina, the rods depolarize, inversely matching the activity pattern of the cone cells. The response in the rods is driven by cone cells and mediated through horizontal cells. These horizontal cells connect rods and cones through their dendrites and long axons, and at the same time form a mesh of connections among each other. The hyperpolarization of one cone thus leads to the depolarization of many surrounding rods.-:During bright light conditions, the cells of the inner retina receive therefore information through two pathways: First through the well-established cone pathway, and second through this newly identified rod pathway. "We think that the surround information relayed to the inner retina through the rod pathway has different functional properties than the information obtained through the cone pathway," comments Roska. "In any case it is fascinating to see how the retina repurposes the rod cells during bright light conditions to increase contrast information, at times when they are not directly sensing light.'"-http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-function-rods-daylight.html