Synaptic organization of starburst amacrine cells in rabbit retina: Analysis of serial thin sections by electron microscopy and graphic reconstruction

The synaptic organization of starburst amacrine cells was studied by electron microscopy of individual or overlapping pairs of Golgi‐impregnated cells. Both type a and type b cells were analyzed, the former with normally placed somata and dendritic branching in sublamina a and the latter with somata displaced to the ganglion cell layer and branching in sublamina b. Starburst amacrine cells were thin‐sectioned horizontally, tangential to the retinal surface, and electron micrographs of each section in a series were taken en montage. Cell bodies and dendritic trees were reconstructed graphically from sets of photographic montages representing the serial sections.