Amacrinecells,thecellbodyislocatedintheinnercorelayeroftheretina,whichisintheshapeofaflaskandislargerthanthebipolarcellsintheretina.Itsprocesseshavethecharacteristicsofbothdendritesandaxons.Theinnerreticulumlayer(IPL)formssynapseswiththeaxonsofbipolarcellneurons,opticganglioncellsandinterreticularcells,whichaffectthesignalprocessingoftheretinatovisualstimuli..
TheEnglishnamecomesfromtheGreekroota-nomakr-longin-fiber.Theyarecalled"amacrinecells"becausethesecellswereoncethoughttohavenolongaxons(SantiagoRamónyCajal,1892),butitisknownthatcertainlarge-fieldamacrinecellscanhavelong"axonslike"Things"canrealizethefunctionofrealaxons.
Thereareabout40differenttypesofamacrinecells,whichareclassifiedaccordingtothewidthoftheirreceptivefield,whichsublayeroftheinnerreticularlayer,neurotransmitters,andsoon.Mostamacrinecellsareinhibitoryneurons,andtheneurotransmitterisGABAorglycine.TherearealsoafewamacrinecellswhoseneurotransmitterisneitherGABAnorglycine(NGNG).
Amacrinecellshavetheabilitytodistinguishbetweenthemovementoftheobservationobjectandthemovementoftheeyeitself.