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Illuminating how the bird inner retina works without oxygen solves a 350-year-old structural mystery

Neurons in the bird eye’s inner retina lack a blood supply. Finding how these neurons function without oxygen reveals a role for an enigmatic eye structure.
By
  1. Michael Berenbrink

    1. Michael Berenbrink is in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK.

  2. Jenni M. Prokkola

    1. Jenni M. Prokkola is at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), 00790 Helsinki, Finland.

The vertebrate eye mediates vision through a neuron-packed tissue called the retina, which has some of the body’s highest energy demands1,2. In birds, the thick inner layer of the retina lacks an internal blood supply. This makes supplying sufficient oxygen (O2) and nutrients to and removing waste products from the densely packed retinal neurons especially challenging. Writing in Nature, Damsgaard et al.3 reveal how neurons in the inner layer of the retina of zebra finch birds (Taeniopygia guttata) can function in the continuous absence of O2.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-04095-0

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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