Page 924 - Atlas of Histology with Functional Correlations

FIGURE 22.8 ■ Layers of the choroid and retina (detail). Stain: hematoxylin

and eosin. High magnification.

FIGURE 22.9 | Eye: Layers of Retina and Choroid

(Detail)

This high-magnification photomicrograph illustrates the photosensitive retina.
The choroid (1) is a vascular outer layer with loose connective tissue and
melanocytes that is situated adjacent to the outermost retinal layer—the single-

cell, pigment epithelium (2) layer. The light-sensitive rods and cones (3) form
the next layer, which is separated from the dense outer nuclear layer (4) by a
thin outer limiting membrane (5). Deep to the outer nuclear layer (4) is a clear
area of synaptic connections, the outer plexiform layer (6).

The dense layer of cell bodies of the integrating neurons forms the inner

nuclear layer (7), which is adjacent to the clear inner plexiform layer (8) in
whose layer the axons of the integrating neurons form synaptic connections with
axons of the neurons that form the optic tract. The cell bodies of the optic tract
neurons form the ganglion cell layer (9), and their afferent axons form the light-

staining optic nerve fiber layer (10). The innermost layer of the retina is the
inner limiting membrane (11), which separates the retina from the vitreous
body of the eyeball.

FIGURE 22.9 ■ Eye: layers of retina and choroid. Stain: Masson trichrome.
×100.

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