has characteristic has soma location receives synaptic input in region sends synaptic output to region adult optic lobe neuron medulla layer M3 medulla layer M4 medulla layer M6 medulla serpentine layer medulla layer M8 adult optic lobe intrinsic neuron lobula layer 6 cell body rind of adult ventral lobula medulla-lobula connecting neuron adult medulla-lobula neuron MeLo3a 2025-05-20T10:24:06Z Cell type identified in two sets of EM data (Matsliah et al., 2024; Nern et al., 2024). FBbt:00053502 fly_anatomy.ontology MLt2 MeLo3a Adult unilateral optic-lobe-intrinsic neuron with its soma on the ventral side of the lobula (Dorkenwald et al., 2024; Schlegel et al., 2024; Nern et al., 2025). It bifurcates near the soma, sending one branch to the medulla and one to the lobula, without passing through the optic chiasm (Nern et al., 2025). It receives input, but also has presynapses, primarily in medulla layers M3-M4 in around 10-15 columns, with a smaller amount of input in M6-M8 (Nern et al., 2025). It also has pre- and post-synapses in the lobula, in a few columns of layers 5B-6 (Nern et al., 2025). Its predicted neurotransmitter is acetylcholine (Eckstein et al., 2024; Nern et al., 2025). There are approximately 50 of these cells per hemisphere (Nern et al., 2025). MeLo3a VFB:FBbt_00053502 adult cholinergic neuron lobula layer 5B unilateral