Somatostatin is mainly expressed by sparsely occurring amacrine and interplexiform cells in the retina. In this study, we characterized the expression and cellular localization of one of the somatostatin subtype (sst) receptors, sst2A, in the rat retina. The presence of sst2A receptor messenger RNA in retinal extracts was demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using specific primers to detect the sst2 receptor and its isoforms, sst2A and sst2B. Specific sst2A receptor immunoreactivity was mainly localized to the plasma membrane of several neuronal cell types. In the outer retina, immunoreactivity was localized to cone photoreceptors, horizontal cells, and rod and cone bipolar cells. Double-label experiments showed the co-localization of sst2A receptor and protein kinase C (alpha and beta), a rod bipolar cell marker, and of sst2A receptor and Calbindin-D28k, a horizontal cell marker. In the inner retina, sst2A receptor immunoreactivity occurred in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive amacrine cells; most were of medium to large size. These findings indicate that somatostatin may act at a distance, in a paracrine manner, on several cell types that express the sst2A receptor, and therefore exert a broad modulatory influence on both scotopic and photopic visual pathways.