Retina

RetinaThis illustration shows a schematic of the retina with rods and cones.The vertebrate retina has ten distinct layers. From closest to farthest from the vitreous body (here left to right):

Inner limiting membrane – basement membrane elaborated by Müller cells

Nerve fibre layer – axons of the ganglion cell nuclei (note that a thin layer of Müller cell footplates exists between this layer and the inner limiting membrane)

Ganglion cell layer – contains nuclei of ganglion cells, the axons of which become the optic nerve fibres for messages and some displaced amacrine cells

Inner plexiform layer – contains the synapse between the bipolar cell axons and the dendrites of the ganglion and amacrine cells.

Inner nuclear layer – contains the nuclei and surrounding cell bodies (perikarya) of the bipolar cells.

Outer plexiform layer – projections of rods and cones ending in the rod spherule and cone pedicle, respectively. These make synapses with dendrites of bipolar cells.In the macular region, this is known as the Fiber layer of Henle.

Outer nuclear layer – cell bodies of rods and cones

External limiting membrane – layer that separates the inner segment portions of the photoreceptors from their cell nucleus

Photoreceptor layer – rods/cones

Retinal pigment epithelium - single layer of cuboidal cells (with extrusions not shown in diagram)