Retinal vasculature of the fovea of the squirrel monkey, Saimiri sciureus: Three‐dimensional architecture, visual screening, and relationships to the neuronal layers

The retinal vasculature of the fovea of squirrel monkeys was studied in retinal whole mounts and in sections of the same retinas. At the center of the fovea there is an approximately circular avascular zone surrounded by a set of terminal capillaries in the inner nuclear layer. Within the foveal depression, four capillary planes that bear a precise relationship to the neuronal organization appear in a specific sequence with increasing eccentricity. The first plane to be established is the dominant, most voluminous one, located closest to the photoreceptors at the deep (sclerad) border of the inner nuclear layer. A second major plane appears next at the sclerad border of the ganglion cell layer.