Walsh & Hoyt: Overview of Retinal Outflow: Parallel Pathways

There is a complex orchestration of neuronal responses evoked by light stimulation of the retina. Light causes the photoreceptors to hyperpolarize, which decreases the release of glutamate from both rod and cone synaptic terminals. Horizontal cells then become hyperpolarized, which suppresses the light response of the photoreceptors. Rod and cone out flows generally diverge, although gap junctions between them are believed to provide a signal path from rods to cones under mesopic or photopic conditions.