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Miniature Brains
Fly brain, my foot! With just a few cells, Drosophila achieves amazing things.
24.01.2026
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- News from the Institutes
Neurons gather together for vision
As in larger brains, mouse visual cortex neurons with the same function cluster in columns
20.02.2025
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- Topic
Vision
About 80 percent of the information about the environment comes from our eyes. A good quarter of the brain is involved in processing this input.
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- Glossary
Amacrine cells
Amacrine cells are interneurons of the retina. They are located between photoreceptors and bipolar cells on the one hand and ganglion cells on the other. The name was coined by Ramón y Cajal and means "without axon."
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- Glossary
Eyeball layers
The layers of the eye form the wall of the eyeball. They can be roughly divided into three areas: the outer membrane with the cornea and sclera, the middle membrane with the iris, choroid, and ciliary body, and the inner membrane with the photoreceptive and blind parts of the retina.
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- Glossary
Bipolar cells
The bipolar cell is a bipolar neuron, i.e., a neuron with one axon and one dendrite located in the middle layer of the retina. It transmits sensory information from the photoreceptors to the ganglion cells.
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- Glossary
Photopigment
Photopigments are light-sensitive molecules in the receptors of the retina. When photons (particles of light) strike the photopigment, it isomerizes, triggering a cascade of various processes. In this way, light is converted into a nerve impulse. All rods have the same type of photopigment, while the cones have one of three possible photopigments.
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- Glossary
Ganglion cell
The ganglion cell bundles the signals from the photoreceptors in the retina and transmits them via its axons (long, fiber-like extensions of a nerve cell. All of these axons together form the optic nerve.
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- Glossary
Macula
The area of the retina with the highest density of photoreceptors. Due to this high "resolution," we see very sharply here. The diameter of the macula in humans is approximately 5 mm. The fovea centralis is located in the center of the macula.
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- Glossary
Horizontal cell
Horizontal cells are nerve cells in the retina. They form a lateral connection between photoreceptors and bipolar cells. In this way, they increase the contrast of what is seen.
