• retinal ganglion cells (RGC) have larger surface area and thick arbors
• some RGC axons follow aberrant trajectories, bifurcate within the retina or give rise to dendrite-like branches that ramify within the inner plexiform data
• a small percentage of RGC lack axons
• RGC cell body is more likely to reside in the inner nuclear layer (INL) than in the ganglion cell layer (GCL)
• the ratio of INL:GCL cell bodies is 178:105 compared with 9:147 for controls
• these misplaced RGC display morphological characteristics of glycinergic amacrine cells
• projections from the RGC are deficient to the olivary pretectal nucleus, the pretectal area and adjacent nucleus of the optic tract
• projections to the lateral and medial terminal nuclei are eliminated and the accessory optic tract is missing