This proposal by 18 investigators roughly covers three areas of collaborative vision research. Five investigators will undertake: analysis of the role of enzymes, ions and nucleotides in normal photoreceptor function including transdution, biochmical and immunohistological analysis of the components involved in phagocytic interaction between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors (PR), and determination of structural and biochemical abnormalities in RPE, PR interaction (possibly through extracellular colleen and mucopolysacchrides) in several types of experimental animals whose retina dystrophic diseases mimic human disease states. Seven investigators will utilize anatomical, electrical and behavioral studies to determine the specific neural circuit anatomy, transmitters and interaction that produces particular receptive field characteristics in the retina and in striate visual cortex, the particular areas of visual cortex involved in various kinds of visual performance including visual memory and its transfer between hemispheres, the mechaism of anatomical release from cortical blindness, determination of the specific orthogonal coordinate characteristics of receptive fields in several newly discovered areas of visual cortex, and the role of temporal modulation of stimulus in color perception. Six investigators will determine the neuropeptide innervation of the eye and its anatomical origins, the effect of neuropeptides and oher conditions on aqueous humor secretion and removal, the role of neuropeptides in the retina and its central connections, the role of inflammatory response in the clinical course of immune reaction in the eye, and the mechanisms of vasculr regulation in the retina in normal and in diseased retina of glaucoma and diabetes.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 349 publications
