Eye & Ear

©1996 University of Kansas Medical Center

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology


Remember that the retina is built "backwards." That is, the light passes through all the other retinal cells before reaching the photoreceptors.

Light comes from this direction



Optic Nerve Fibers



Ganglion Cell Layer



Inner Plexiform Layer
(Synapses between the Inner Nuclear Layer & the Ganglion Layer)



Inner Nuclear Layer
(Bipolar Cells, Amacrine Cells, Horizontal Cells)



Outer Plexiform Layer
(Synapses between the Photoreceptors & the Inner Nuclear Layer)



External Nuclear Layer
(Nuclei of the Photoreceptors)



Photoreceptors

Once the light hits the photoreceptors it is converted into an electrical signal and sent back up through all of these cells in the opposite direction.