中文摘要：

在脊椎动物的视觉系统中，信息的初级处理发生在视网膜。视网膜神经节细胞是视网膜唯一的输出神经元，在不同视觉刺激条件下会表现出不同的放电活动模式。研究表明视网膜神经节细胞可以利用多种编码方式，包括频率编码、时间结构编码以及群体协同编码等，有效地编码外界刺激。另外，大千世界的视觉场景变化几乎是无限的，长期的进化赋予了视网膜良好的适应能力，以实现通过有限的神经元活动对无限变化的视觉场景的编码。本文回顾了近年来关于视网膜神经节细胞编码方式和适应特性的相关研究，对多种编码方式在不同刺激下的动态改变、适应特性及生理功能进行讨论。

英文摘要：

In vertebrate visual system, retina is the first stage for visual information processing. Retinal ganglion cells are the only output neurons of the retina, and their firing activities are dependent on visual stimuli. Retinal ganglion cells can effectively encode visual information via various manners, such as firing rate, temporal structure of spike trains, and concerted activity, etc. Adaptation is one of the basic characteristics of the nervous system, which enables retinal neurons to encode stimuli under a wide variety of natural conditions with limited range in their output. This article reviews the recent studies focused on the coding properties and adaptation of retinal ganglion cells. Relevant issues about dynamical adjustment of coding strategies of retinal ganglion cells in response to different visual stimulation, as well as physiological property and function of adaptation are discussed.