E. Sernagor and M.H. Hennig (2013). Retinal Waves: Underlying Cellular Mechanisms and Theoretical Considerations. In: Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience: Cellular Migration and Formation of Neuronal Connections,

Long before visual experience is even possible, the developing vertebrate retina is already far from silent. In vitro extracellular recordings from the neonatal rabbit retina first revealed that developing retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) periodically fire bursts of action potentials in the absence of light stimulation (Masland, R. H. 1977). Subsequently, Galli, L. and Maffei, L. (1988) (see also Maffei, L. and Galli-Resta, L. 1990) succeeded in demonstrating that spontaneous bursting activity is present in vivo in the fetal rat retina. In mammals, these discharge patterns gradually switch from brief periodic bursts to more sustained firing with increasing age (Tootle, J. S. 1993; Wong, R. O. L. et al. 1993). In comparison, RGCs in turtle exhibit a wide variety of spontaneous discharges throughout development (Sernagor, E. and Grzywacz, N. M. 1995; Grzywacz, N. M. and Sernagor, E. 2000; Sernagor, E. et al. 2001).