DEPRIVATION OF FORM VISION SUPPRESSES DIURNAL CYCLING OF RETINAL LEVELS OF LEU-ENKEPHALIN

Deprivation of form vision by the fitting of translucent occluders sup pressed the diurnal cycling of enkephalinergic amacrine cells (the ENS LI amacrine cells), in the chicken. Daily periods of normal vision or enforcing temporal contrast using strobe lighting appeared to restore normal functioning of the ENSLI cells. These results suggest that the ENSLI cells are involved in retinal circuits that assess the quality o f the visual image and control eye growth.