Morphological Characteristics of Retinal Ganglion Cells in the Retinas of Giant Pandas (<i>Ailuropoda melanoleuca</i>)
Vision plays a crucial role in the survival of animals, and the visual system has particularly selectively evolved in response to the visual environment, ecological niche, and species habitats in vertebrate species. To date, a horizontal streak of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) distribution pattern is observed across mammal species. Here, we report that the giant panda's vertically oriented visual streak, combined with current evidence of the animal's forward-placed eyes, ocular structure, and retinal neural topographic distribution patterns, presents the emergence of a well-adapted binocular visual system. Our results suggest that the giant panda may use a unique way to processing binocular visual information. Results of mathematical simulation are in favor of this hypothesis. The topographic distribution properties of RGCs reported here could be essential for understanding the visual adaptation and evolution of this living fossil.
Authors
- Wenyao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9897-2761)
- Mingliang Pu
- Yuan Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2892-0100)
- Jie Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6680-4288)
- Honglin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1175-5201)
- Shanshan Ling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-1027)
- Ronping Wei
- Chun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2771-2502)
- Nan Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6729-2448)
- Xin Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5213-7664)
- Chengdong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7871-1951)
- Desheng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5368-2242)
- Linhua Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7423-9183)
- Qihua He
Institutions
- Peking University (CN)
- Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (CN)
- Peking University Third Hospital (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Comparative Neurology
- Published
- 2024-08-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.25661
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Retinal Development and Disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.23
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
- Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation
- National Key Research and Development Program of China