The photoreceptor populations in the retina of the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Abstract

Recently, we reported the existence of AII "rod" amacrine cells in the retina of the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Jeon et al., 2007). In order to enhance our understanding of bat vision, in the present study, we report on a quantitative analysis of cone and rod photoreceptors. The average cone density was 9,535 cells/mm2, giving a total number of cones of 33,538 cells/retina. The average rod density was 368,891 cells/mm2, giving a total number of rods of 1,303,517 cells. On average, the total populations of rods were 97.49%, and cones were 2.51% of all the photoreceptors. Rod: cone ratios ranged from 33.85:1 centrally to 42.26:1 peripherally, with a mean ratio of 38.96:1. The average regularity index of the cone mosaic in bat retina was 3.04. The present results confirm the greater horseshoe bat retina to be strongly rod-dominated. The rod-dominated retina, with the existence of AII cells discovered in our previous study, strongly suggests that the greater horseshoe bat retina has a functional scotopic property of vision. However, the existence of cone cells also suggests that the bat retina has a functional photopic property of vision.