Synapse Discharge by Single Fibre in Mammalian Visual System

FOLLOWING a single brief electrical shock applied to the optic nerve in the cat there is, from the lowest levels of stimulation, an approximately linear relation between the amplitudes of the pre- and post-synaptic responses recorded in the lateral geniculate body1. This was taken to indicate that only a small number of optic tract fibres are needed to discharge a geniculate cell.