Oscillatory potentials in the visual system of cats and monkeys

Intense illumination of the eye often evokes from it a dramatic series of electrical oscillations. Such rhythms are seen in both vertebrate and invertebrate eyes, but there is no certainty that their origin is the same in each case. Comprehensive reviews of work on rhythmic activity in relation to the electroretinogram (e.r.g.) are available (Kohlrausch, 1931; Jolly, 1936; Granit, 1947). These oscillatory potentials were discovered by Fr6hlich (1914) using the octopus Eledone moschata. Eyes from Eledone, and sometimes from Octopus vulgaris, while in good condition and at temperatures below 15° C, yield sinusoidal oscillations from about 20 to 90/sec upon illumination, and from 20 to 40/sec for up to 6 min after cessation ofillumination. Amplitude and frequency increase with increasing light intensity. Some of the essential features of Fr6hlich's observations have been confirmed with micro-electrodes in the optic nerve of the squid (MacNichol & Love, 1961). In the optic nerve of the eel Adrian & Matthews (1928) found oscillations apparently similar to those seen by Fr6hlich. As in Eledone, the frequency increases with the intensity of the illumination, but changes greatly during the course of a 'response'. Upon onset or cessation of illumination oscillations beginning at 25/sec gradually fall to 6/sec after 1-2 min. Strychnine applied to the eye induces 2-4/sec oscillations in the absence of light. Since unit activity could be seen in phase with the oscillations, the latter were attributed to synchronized bursts of action in optic nerve fibres (Adrian & Matthews, 1928). Chaffee & Sutcliffe (1930) supported this conclusion since they could record the oscillations but not the e.r.g. from the optic disk of the frog. Volkmer (1956/57) found for the frog that the frequency remains constant despite great changes in light intensity and that the oscillations can be detected with intensities too low to elicit the usual e.r.g. Oscillations at about 25/sec are seen in the e.r.g. of the

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