Mechanisms of the formation of the fovea centralis in the Primate eye

More than 90% of our visual information is catched by a very small region of the retina, occupying less than 1% of their total surface area, and being called the fovea centralis. This name was given because in the adult Primate retina, at this place the ''inner'' retinal layers (containing second-and third-order neurons) are shifted aside, leaving the photoreceptor cells - as the light perceptive cells - directly exposed to the light which enters the eye. It has been speculated that this organization is important for vision; in humans suffering from albinism, this regional specialization is not developed. Interestingly enough, this specialization develops mostly during the early postnatal period (up to the 4th year in humans). At birth, this area is even thicker than the rest of the retina. The mechanisms underlying this ''foveation'' are largely unknown. The hypothesis will presented that one of the retinal layers (between the photoreceptor cells and the inner layers) is a ''locus minoris resistentiae'', and allows a ''sliding like that of the tectonic plates'' between the cells in the photoreceptor layer (centripetally) and those of the inner layers (centrifugally). Biological data are available (and further data will be obtained); what we would greatly appreciate is any help in modeling the process of foveation.