scholarly journals Spectral and Polarization Sensitivity of the Dipteran Visual System

1972 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 534-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert D. McCann ◽  
David W. Arnett
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Motion Detection ◽  
Polarization Plane ◽  
Color Discrimination ◽  
Polarization Sensitivity ◽  
Retinular Cell ◽  
First Optic Ganglion ◽  
Optic Ganglion ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Retinular Cells

Spectral and polarization sensitivity measurements were made at several levels (retina, first and third optic ganglion, cervical connective, behavior) of the dipteran visual nervous system. At all levels, it was possible to reveal contributions from the retinular cell subsystem cells 1 to 6 or the retinular cell subsystem cells 7 and 8 or both. Only retinular cells 1 to 6 were directly studied, and all possessed the same spectral sensitivity characterized by two approximately equal sensitivity peaks at 350 and 480 nm. All units of both the sustaining and on-off variety in the first optic ganglion exhibited the same spectral sensitivity as that of retinular cells 1 to 6. It was possible to demonstrate for motion detection and optomotor responses two different spectral sensitivities depending upon the spatial wavelength of the stimulus. For long spatial wavelengths, the spectral sensitivity agreed with retinular cells 1 to 6; however, the spectral sensitivity at short spatial wavelengths was characterized by a single peak at 465 nm reflecting contributions from the (7, 8) subsystem. Although the two subsystems exhibited different spectral sensitivities, the difference was small and no indication of color discrimination mechanisms was observed. Although all retinular cells 1 to 6 exhibited a preferred polarization plane, sustaining and on-off units did not. Likewise, motion detection and optomotor responses were insensitive to the polarization plane for long spatial wavelength stimuli; however, sensitivity to select polarization planes was observed for short spatial wavelengths.

scholarly journals Photoreceptors and diurnal variation in spectral sensitivity in the fiddler crab Gelasimus dampieri

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (23) ◽  
pp. jeb230979
Author(s):  
Anna-Lee Jessop ◽  
Yuri Ogawa ◽  
Zahra M. Bagheri ◽  
Julian C. Partridge ◽  
Jan M. Hemmi
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Colour Vision ◽  
Fiddler Crab ◽  
Selective Adaptation ◽  
Diurnal Changes ◽  
Intracellular Recordings ◽  
Retinular Cell ◽  
Minimum Requirement ◽  
Peak Sensitivity ◽  
Retinular Cells

ABSTRACTColour signals, and the ability to detect them, are important for many animals and can be vital to their survival and fitness. Fiddler crabs use colour information to detect and recognise conspecifics, but their colour vision capabilities remain unclear. Many studies have attempted to measure their spectral sensitivity and identify contributing retinular cells, but the existing evidence is inconclusive. We used electroretinogram (ERG) measurements and intracellular recordings from retinular cells to estimate the spectral sensitivity of Gelasimus dampieri and to track diurnal changes in spectral sensitivity. G. dampieri has a broad spectral sensitivity and is most sensitive to wavelengths between 420 and 460 nm. Selective adaptation experiments uncovered an ultraviolet (UV) retinular cell with a peak sensitivity shorter than 360 nm. The species’ spectral sensitivity above 400 nm is too broad to be fitted by a single visual pigment and using optical modelling, we provide evidence that at least two medium-wavelength sensitive (MWS) visual pigments are contained within a second blue-green sensitive retinular cell. We also found a ∼25 nm diurnal shift in spectral sensitivity towards longer wavelengths in the evening in both ERG and intracellular recordings. Whether the shift is caused by screening pigment migration or changes in opsin expression remains unclear, but the observation shows the diel dynamism of colour vision in this species. Together, these findings support the notion that G. dampieri possesses the minimum requirement for colour vision, with UV and blue/green receptors, and help to explain some of the inconsistent results of previous research.

Generation and early differentiation of glial cells in the first optic ganglion of Drosophila melanogaster

Development ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 903-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.L. Winberg ◽  
S.E. Perez ◽  
H. Steller
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Glial Cells ◽  
Enhancer Trap ◽  
P Element ◽  
Cell Divisions ◽  
Genetic Mosaic ◽  
First Optic Ganglion ◽  
Optic Ganglion ◽  
Glial Lineage ◽  
Enhancer Trap Lines

We have examined the generation and development of glial cells in the first optic ganglion, the lamina, of Drosophila melanogaster. Previous work has shown that the growth of retinal axons into the developing optic lobes induces the terminal cell divisions that generate the lamina monopolar neurons. We investigated whether photoreceptor ingrowth also influences the development of lamina glial cells, using P element enhancer trap lines, genetic mosaics and birthdating analysis. Enhancer trap lines that mark the differentiating lamina glial cells were found to require retinal innervation for expression. In mutants with only a few photoreceptors, only the few glial cells near ingrowing axons expressed the marker. Genetic mosaic analysis indicates that the lamina neurons and glial cells are readily separable, suggesting that these are derived from distinct lineages. Additionally, BrdU pulse-chase experiments showed that the cell divisions that produce lamina glia, unlike those producing lamina neurons, are not spatially or temporally correlated with the retinal axon ingrowth. Finally, in mutants lacking photoreceptors, cell divisions in the glial lineage appeared normal. We conclude that the lamina glial cells derive from a lineage that is distinct from that of the L-neurons, that glia are generated independently of photoreceptor input, and that completion of the terminal glial differentiation program depends, directly or indirectly, on an inductive signal from photoreceptor axons.

Light-evoked contraction of red absorbing cones in the Xenopus retina is maximally sensitive to green light

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Besharse ◽  
Paul Witkovsky
Keyword(s):  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Green Light ◽  
Sensitivity Function ◽  
Direct Mechanism ◽  
Sensitivity Experiments ◽  
Light Stimuli ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Spectral Sensitivity Function

AbstractTo test the hypothesis that light-evoked cone contraction in eye cups from Xenopus laevis is controlled through a direct mechanism initiated by the cone's own photopigment, we conducted spectral-sensitivity experiments. We estimate that initiation of contraction of red absorbing cones (611 nm) is 1.5 log units more sensitive to green (533 nm) than red (650 nm) light stimuli. The difference is comparable to that predicted from the spectral-sensitivity function of the green absorbing, principal rod (523 nm). Furthermore, 480-nm and 580-nm stimuli which are absorbed nearly equally by the principal rod have indistinguishable effects on cone contraction. We also found that light blockade of nighttime cone elongation is much more sensitive to green than to red light stimuli. Our observations are inconsistent with the hypothesis tested, and suggest that light-regulated cone motility is controlled through an indirect mechanism initiated primarily by the green absorbing, principal rod.

Neural organisation in the first optic ganglion of the nocturnal bee Megalopta genalis

2004 ◽  
Vol 318 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Greiner ◽  
Willi A. Ribi ◽  
William T. Wcislo ◽  
Eric J. Warrant
Keyword(s):  
Megalopta Genalis ◽  
First Optic Ganglion ◽  
Optic Ganglion

Electroretinographic Determination of Spectral Sensitivity in Albino and Pigmented Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis, Mitchill)

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 1030-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kobayashi ◽  
M. A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Absorption Spectrum ◽  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Brook Trout ◽  
Salvelinus Fontinalis ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Visible Spectrum ◽  
The Difference

A technique for recording electroretinograms from the unpunctured eyes in situ of living, anesthetized fish is described. This technique permits the use of the same fish in a number of experiments over a period of weeks, months, or years. Using this technique the spectral sensitivity of dark-adapted (scotopic) and light-adapted (photopic) fish was measured at 13 bands of the visible spectrum. The scotopic curves of albino and pigmented trout thus obtained in the winter have their maxima around 525 nm which differ from that of the absorption spectrum of the scotopic pigment in situ and in vitro of older fish obtained in the summer. The photopic curve of the pigmented fish is a broad one with humps around 425 nm, 545 nm, and 595 nm. The albino's curve has a relatively narrow band with a peak around 630 nm and a shoulder at about 550 nm. The difference between the shapes of the two curves may be ascribed to the increase in the intensity of light of longer wavelengths within the eyeball of the albino, due to reflection from blood vessels and sclera caused by the absence of pigmentation.

scholarly journals Single and Multiple Visual Systems in Arthropods

1968 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Wald
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Visual Pigment ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
Procambarus Clarkii ◽  
Color Discrimination ◽  
Visual Pigments ◽  
Green Crab ◽  
Spider Crab ◽  
Color Adaptation ◽  
Visual Systems

Extraction of two visual pigments from crayfish eyes prompted an electrophysiological examination of the role of visual pigments in the compound eyes of six arthropods. The intact animals were used; in crayfishes isolated eyestalks also. Thresholds were measured in terms of the absolute or relative numbers of photons per flash at various wavelengths needed to evoke a constant amplitude of electroretinogram, usually 50 µv. Two species of crayfish, as well as the green crab, possess blue- and red-sensitive receptors apparently arranged for color discrimination. In the northern crayfish, Orconectes virilis, the spectral sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye is maximal at about 550 mµ, and on adaptation to bright red or blue lights breaks into two functions with λmax respectively at about 435 and 565 mµ, apparently emanating from different receptors. The swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, displays a maximum sensitivity when dark-adapted at about 570 mµ, that breaks on color adaptation into blue- and red-sensitive functions with λmax about 450 and 575 mµ, again involving different receptors. Similarly the green crab, Carcinides maenas, presents a dark-adapted sensitivity maximal at about 510 mµ that divides on color adaptation into sensitivity curves maximal near 425 and 565 mµ. Each of these organisms thus possesses an apparatus adequate for at least two-color vision, resembling that of human green-blinds (deuteranopes). The visual pigments of the red-sensitive systems have been extracted from the crayfish eyes. The horse-shoe crab, Limulus, and the lobster each possesses a single visual system, with λmax respectively at 520 and 525 mµ. Each of these is invariant with color adaptation. In each case the visual pigment had already been identified in extracts. The spider crab, Libinia emarginata, presents another variation. It possesses two visual systems apparently differentiated, not for color discrimination but for use in dim and bright light, like vertebrate rods and cones. The spectral sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye is maximal at about 490 mµ and on light adaptation, whether to blue, red, or white light, is displaced toward shorter wavelengths in what is essentially a reverse Purkinje shift. In all these animals dark adaptation appears to involve two phases: a rapid, hyperbolic fall of log threshold associated probably with visual pigment regeneration, followed by a slow, almost linear fall of log threshold that may be associated with pigment migration.

The Organization of the Lamina ganglionaris of the Bee

1975 ◽  
Vol 30 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 851-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi A. Ribi
Keyword(s):  
Optic Tract ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Lamina Ganglionaris ◽  
Synaptic Region ◽  
First Optic Ganglion ◽  
Axon Bundle ◽  
Bee Vision ◽  
Optic Ganglion

Abstract Bee, Vision, First Optic Ganglion The lamina ganglionaris of the bee contains the first synaptic region in the optic tract. The nine retinula cells of one visual unit (ommatidium) either end in the lamina as short visual fibres or end as long visual fibres in the second optic ganglion (medulla). Each axon bundle of nine fibres from one ommatidium is associated with four different second order neurons (L-fibres) to form a single lamina cartridge. Processes of additional fibres invade single groups of cartridges.

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