The relatively simple, stratified nature of the retina and its spe- fied use in the visual process has long made it an inviting tissue to study both for its own sake and as a model for the more complex processes of the brain. For these dual purposes, the retina can be thought of as basically consisting of two functional pans. First, the outer retina, comprised of the photoreceptor cells and attendant pigment epithelium, serves to capture the photic energy and convert it into a neurochemical response. Second, the inner layers of the retina, mainly bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cells (and their attendant Maller cells), function more clearly as a typical part of the CNS, transmitting the photic signals to the brain. Between the 8th and 12th of August 1988 more than seventy scientists from allover the world gathered in Oldenburg (Federal Republic of Gennany) for a meeting "The neurobiology of the inner retina" which was devoted entirely to the neural mechanism of the inner synaptic layer of the verte­ brate retina. The meeting comprised twenty - three separate lectures and four specially arranged discussion groups. In addition, a number of posters were displayed and a period was allotted specifically for the discussion of these posters. The articles contained in this book will serve as a record of the papers delivered at the Oldenburg Meeting and illustrate the advances made in trying to understand the importance of the diversity of amacrine cell morphology and physiology in retinal function.

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Table of Content.- Glutamate as a retinal neurotransmitter.- The release of acetylcholine and GABA by neurons of the rabbit retina.- Studies on the localization of serotonergic neurones and the types of serotonin receptors in the mammalian retina.- The function of multiple subclasses of GABA receptors in rabbit retina.- The anatomy of multiple GABAergic and glycinergic pathways in the inner plexiform layer of the goldfish retina.- Distribution and spatial organization of dopaminergic interplexiform cells in the rat retina.- Neuronal and glial release of GABA from the rat retina.- Transmitter-specific synaptic contacts involving mixed rod-cone bipolar cell terminals in goldfish retina.- Efferent projections to the goldfish retina.- Correlation between electrophysiological responses and morphological classes of turtle retinal amacrine cells.- Dendritic morphology of a class of interstitial amacrine cells in carp retina.- How many amacrine cells does a retina need? A comparative analysis of amacrine cell morphology.- Dendritic relationships between cholinergic amacrine cells and direction- selective retinal ganglion cells.- Structural organization and development of dorsally-directed (vertical) asymmetrical amacrine cells in rabbit retina.- Amacrine cells and control of retinal sensitivity.- Structure-function correlation: Amacrine cells of fish and amphibian retinae.- Integration of synaptic input from ON and OFF pathways in mudpuppy retinal ganglion cells.- Structure function relationships of sustained ON ganglion cells of the mudpuppy retina.- Not by ganglion cells alone: Directional selectivity is widespread in identified cells of the turtle retina.- Pharmacological modulation of the dark adapted cat retina.- Expression of tachykinin peptides in the mammalian retina.- The coexistence of multiple neuroactive substances in the retina.- Functional studies on enkephalin- and somatostatin-immunoreactive amacrine cells in the chicken retina.- Physiology, morphology and activity of amacrine cells with glucagon-like immunoreactivity in the turtle retina.- Excitatory amino acid receptors on feline retinal ganglion cells.- Desegregation: Bussing of signals through the retinal network.- GABA-activated currents in ganglion cells isolated from goldfish retina.- The function of monoamines in the rabbit retina.- A role of the angiotensin-renin system for retinal neurotransmission?.- Problems posed by primate ganglion cells for functional anatomy and psychophysics.- Amacrine-bipolar cell interactions mediate change detection in the retina of the tiger salamander.- Membrane currents of retinal bipolar cells: Goldfish vs. mouse.- Immunocytochemical localization of protein kinase C in some vertebrate retinas.- Muscarinic inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity in rabbit retinal cells.- Serotonergic cells in the chicken retina.- Peptide and indoleamine modulation of spatial response properties in turtle retinal ganglion cells.- Morphologies of somatostatin-immunoreactive neurons in the rabbit retina.- Enkephalin release and enkephalin- precursors in chicken retina.- Putative GABAergic ganglion cells in the retina of salamandrids: Evidence by immunocytochemistry and electrophysiology?.- Host and graft glial cell activities following retinal transplantation to the adult rat eye.- Acetylcholinesterase activity and alpha- bungarotoxin binding in the inner retina of a marine teleost.- Voltage clamp study of amacrine cells in carp retina.- Carp responses of color coded ganglion 503 cells evoked by current injection into horizontal cells.- Bipolar cells, amacrine cells and ganglion cells in the retina of the Californian slender salamander, Batrachosepsattenuates (Amphibia, Urodela, Plethodontidae).- Are orthogonal arrays of particles in retinal Müller (glial) cells related to K channels?.