In 1969, Werblin and Dowling published their seminal studies of the electrophysiological response properties of all the major neuron types in the vertebrate retina.
To accomplish this, the authors combined information about the electrical responses of the neurons with anatomical connectivity uncovered by electron microscopic identification of the neural pathways.
Werblin invented and developed a clever slicing procedure that allowed for a quicker and easier means to access all of the neurons in the various layers of the retina, while leaving the cells largely intact with their supporting matrix and synaptic connections and electrical junctions.
[6] The new light-responsive slice methodology also allowed interplexiform cells to be identified and characterized for the first time,[7] as well as sustained and transient amacrine neurons.
[9] The slice technique would become a standard for retinal research and be developed for other animals with much smaller neurons, including the Zebrafish[10] and rat.