As such, they are part of the sensory pathways for smell, sight, taste, hearing, touch, balance and proprioception.

Bipolar cells come in two varieties, having either an on-center or an off-center receptive field, each with a surround of the opposite sign.

The off-center bipolar cells have excitatory synaptic connections with the photoreceptors, which fire continuously in the dark and are hyperpolarized (suppressed) by light.

On-center bipolar cells have inhibitory synapses with the photoreceptors and therefore are excited by light and suppressed in the dark.

[7] Bipolar neurons exist within the vestibular nerve as it is responsible for special sensory sensations including hearing, equilibrium and motion detection.