Abstract
IT is usually considered that the outer portions* of photoreceptor cells of primate and other retinas behave as light pipes or waveguides1,2, each receptor preferentially accepting rays which are coaxial or nearly coaxial with the receptor's axis of cylindrical symmetry3. A receptor takes advantage both of a long axial path and of the planar orientation of its visual pigment molecules4–7 for maximal light absorption while at the same time confining light to one point in the retinal plane and in visual space. Preferential acceptance thus leads simultaneously to high sensitivity and to good angular resolution, for light detection.
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Change history
01 May 1968
In the communication "Photoreceptor Orientation in the Primate Eye" by Alan M. Laties, Paul A. Liebman and Charles E. M. Campbell (Nature, 218, 172; 1968) the second sentence of the fourth paragraph should read: "The lines D, Pn pass through each receptor axis at each point Pn. The magnitude of the deviation angle q1 included at the intersection of the axis line D, Pn and the radius line O, Pn is computed from the sine law .
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LATIES, A., LIEBMAN, P. & CAMPBELL, C. Photoreceptor Orientation in the Primate Eye. Nature 218, 172–173 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218172a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/218172a0
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