Structure: < Click on image >

Layers of the Eye, Foveal Region. (Photograph courtesy of Dr. A. Hendrickson, Dept. of Biological Structure, University of Washington). Cross-section through the retina and choroid of a macaque monkey. The sclera is visible at the bottom of the frame. The pigmented and highly vascular choroid is the next layer. Above it is the pigment epithelium (narrow dark stripe), the outermost layer of the retina. The photoreceptors make up the next three bands, with their pale outer segments, darker inner segments and darkly staining cell bodies. The remaining pale layers are made up of neuronal processes (axons and dendrites), while the dark layers contain the cell bodies of other retinal neurons. The middle layer of stained cell bodies (here labeled inner nuclear layer) contains cell bodies of bipolar, horizontal and amacrine cells. Note that in the depression in the middle of this section the photoreceptor layer is much thicker than in surrounding areas of the retina. The depression is the fovea, where only cones are present. It is the region of the retina with the highest visual acuity.

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