Physiology of L- and M-cone inputs to H1 horizontal cells in the primate retina

In the primate retina, H1 horizontal cells form an electrically coupled network and receive convergent input from long (L-) and middle- (M-) wavelength-sensitive cones. Using an in vitro preparation of the intact retina to record the light-evoked voltage responses of H1 cells, we systematically varied the L- and M-cone stimulus contrast and measured the relative L- and M-cone input strength for 137 cells across 33 retinas from three Old World species (Macaca nemestrina, M. fascicularis, and Papio anubis). We found that the L- and the M-cone inputs were summed by the H1 cell in proportion to the stimulus cone contrast, which yielded a measure of what we term L- and M-cone contrast gain. The proportion of L-cone contrast gain was highly variable, ranging from 25% to 90% [mean +/- standard deviation, (60 +/- 14)%]. This variability was accounted for by retinal location within an individual, with the temporal retina showing a consistently higher percentage of L-cone gain, and by large overall variation across individuals, with the mean percentage of L-cone gain ranging from 32% to 80%. We hypothesize that the relative L- and M-cone contrast gain is determined simply by the relative number of L and M cones in the H1 cell's receptive field and that the variability in L- and M-cone contrast gain reflects a corresponding variability in the mosaic of L and M cones. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(00)00403-8].