Parvocellular cells, also called P-cells, are
neurons located within the parvocellular layers of the
lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the
thalamus. "''Parvus''" is
Latin for "small", and the name "parvocellular" refers to the small size of the cell compared to the larger
magnocellular cells. Phylogenetically, parvocellular neurons are more modern than magnocellular ones.
Function
The parvocellular neurons of the
visual system receive their input from
midget cells, a type of
retinal ganglion cell
A retinal ganglion cell (RGC) is a type of neuron located near the inner surface (the ganglion cell layer) of the retina of the human eye, eye. It receives visual information from photoreceptor cell, photoreceptors via two intermediate neuron typ ...
, whose axons are exiting the
optic tract. These
synapse
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell.
Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from ...
s occur in one of the four dorsal parvocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus. The information from each eye is kept separate at this point, and continues to be segregated until processing in the
visual cortex. The electrically-encoded visual information leaves the parvocellular cells via
relay cells in the
optic radiation
In neuroanatomy, the optic radiation (also known as the geniculocalcarine tract, the geniculostriate pathway, and posterior thalamic radiation) are axons from the neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus to the primary visual cortex. The optic ...
s, traveling to the
primary visual cortex layer 4C-β. The parvocellular neurons are sensitive to colour,
and are more capable of discriminating fine details than their magnocellular counterparts. Parvocellular cells have greater spatial resolution, but lower temporal resolution, than the magnocellular cells.
See also
*
Koniocellular cell
*
Magnocellular cell
*
List of human cell types derived from the germ layers
This is a list of cells in humans derived from the three embryonic germ layers – ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm.
Cells derived from ectoderm
Surface ectoderm Skin
* Trichocyte
* Keratinocyte
Anterior pituitary
* Gonadotrope
* Corticotro ...
References
External links
NIF Search - Parvocellular Cellvia the
Neuroscience Information Framework
{{Visual pathways
Visual system
Thalamus