What type of potentials do amacrine cells produce?

Amacrine cells primarily produce graded potentials. These cells are part of the inner retina and play an essential role in the visual processing pathway by influencing the output of ganglion cells. They receive input from bipolar cells and provide local processing through intricate connections with other amacrine cells and ganglion cells. This local processing allows for modulation of the visual signal before it reaches the brain.

Graded potentials are changes in membrane potential that vary in size and are typically not all-or-nothing responses, as seen with action potentials. Instead, they can increase or decrease in strength, depending on the amount of synaptic input received. Amacrine cells utilize graded potentials to refine visual signals based on the varying light conditions and movement of objects in the visual field.

In contrast, action potentials are the all-or-nothing signals that propagate along the axons of neurons and are typically generated in the ganglion cells in response to a strong depolarization that exceeds the threshold. Thus, while ganglion cells generate action potentials to transmit visual information to the brain, amacrine cells communicate via graded potentials to facilitate complex visual processing through local interactions within the retina.