scholarly journals Adaptation in the Ventral Eye of Limulus is Functionally Independent of the Photochemical Cycle, Membrane Potential, and Membrane Resistance

1973 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fein ◽  
R. D. DeVoe

The early receptor potential (ERP), membrane potential, membrane resistance, and sensitivity were measured during light and/or dark adaptation in the ventral eye of Limulus. After a bright flash, the ERP amplitude recovered with a time constant of 100 ms, whereas the sensitivity recovered with an initial time constant of 20 s. When a strong adapting light was turned off, the recovery of membrane potential and of membrane resistance had time-courses similar to each other, and both recovered more rapidly than the sensitivity. The receptor depolarization was compared during dark adaptation after strong illumination and during light adaptation with weaker illumination; at equal sensitivities the cell was more depolarized during light adaptation than during dark adaptation. Finally, the waveforms of responses to flashes were compared during dark adaptation after strong illumination and during light adaptation with weaker illumination. At equal sensitivities (equal amplitude responses for identical flashes), the responses during light adaptation had faster time-courses than the responses during dark adaptation. Thus neither the photochemical cycle nor the membrane potential nor the membrane resistance is related to sensitivity changes during dark adaptation in the photoreceptors of the ventral eye. By elimination, these results imply that there are (unknown) intermediate process(es) responsible for adaptation interposed between the photochemical cycle and the electrical properties of the photoreceptor.

1966 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1199-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM L. PAK ◽  
THOMAS G. EBREY

The second phase (negative peak) of the early receptor potential of cones has been studied in the all-cone eyes of the Mexican and antelope ground squirrels (Citellus mexicanus and Citellus leucurus) and compared with responses from the rod-dominant eyes of the rat and flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). The responses obtained from the all-cone eyes tended to be smaller in amplitude, to have higher thresholds, and to be considerably more resistant to light adaptation than the responses from the rod-dominant eyes. The wave forms and time courses of the two types of responses were similar, although the cone potential tended to be less sensitive to temperature variations and its time constants tended to be shorter than those of the rod potential. The spectral sensitivity of the second phase of the early receptor potential of the Mexican ground squirrel closely follows the absorption spectrum of a Dartnall nomogram pigment having its absorption maximum at 540 mμ. Moreover, as in the case of the rat, the amplitude of the response appears to be linearly related to the amount of pigment bleached in a flash. Thus, in both all-rod and all-cone systems the early receptor potential appears to arise in the photoexcitation of the respective visual pigment and appears to be closely linked to the initial photochemical events. The similarity of the wave form, time course, and stimulus-response curves in the two systems suggests that the early receptor potential is produced by similar mechanisms in all-rod and all-cone systems.


1991 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
P M O'Day ◽  
M P Gray-Keller ◽  
M Lonergan

In previous work we have presented evidence for electrogenic Na+/Ca2+ exchange in Limulus ventral photoreceptors (1989. J. Gen. Physiol. 93:473-492). This article assesses the contributions to photoreceptor physiology from Na+/Ca2+ exchange. Four separate physiological processes were considered: maintenance of resting sensitivity, light-induced excitation, light adaptation, and dark adaptation. (a) Resting sensitivity: reduction of [Na+]o caused a [Ca2+]o-dependent reduction in light sensitivity and a speeding of the time courses of the responses to individual test flashes; this effect was dependent on the final value to which [Na+]o was reduced. The desensitization caused by Na+ reduction was dependent on the initial sensitivity of the photoreceptor; in fully dark-adapted conditions no desensitization was observed; in light-adapted conditions, extensive desensitization was observed. (b) Excitation: Na+ reduction in fully dark-adapted conditions caused a Ca2+o-dependent depolarizing phase in the receptor potential that persisted beyond the stimulus duration and was evoked by a bright adapting flash. (c) Light adaptation: the degree of desensitization induced by a bright adapting flash was Na+o dependent, being larger with lower [Na+]o. Na+ reduction enhanced light adaptation only at intensities brighter than 4 x 10(-6) W/cm2. In addition to being Na+o dependent, light adaptation was Ca2+o dependent, being greater at higher [Ca2+]o. (d) Dark adaptation: the recovery of light sensitivity after adapting illumination was Na+o dependent. Dark adaptation after bright illumination in voltage-clamped and in unclamped conditions was faster in normal-Na+ saline than in reduced Na+ saline. The final sensitivity to which photoreceptors recovered was lower in reduced-Na+ saline when bright adapting illumination was used. The results suggest the involvement of Na+/Ca2+ exchange in each of these physiological processes. Na+/Ca2+ exchange may contribute to these processes by counteracting normal elevations in [Ca2+]i.


1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cun-Jian Dong ◽  
Hao-Hua Qian ◽  
John S. McReynolds ◽  
Xiong-Li Yang ◽  
Yu-Min Liu

AbstractThe sensitivity of rod- and cone-driven responses was studied in the isolated frog retina during the period of rapid dark adaptation following a conditioning flash which bleached a negligible amount of visual pigment. Following a conditioning flash, cone-driven b-wave responses were first enhanced and then depressed. The time courses of the enhancement and subsequent depression of cone-drive responses varies greatly with the intensity and wavelength of the conditioning flash, but were identical when the conditioning' flashes were matched for equal excitation of 502 nm rods. These changes in cone-driven response sensitivity were correlated with the desensitization and recovery of rods following the conditioning flash. When signal transmission from rods to second-order cells was interrupted by the addition of L-glutamate, the conditioning flash did not produce the above-described enhancement and subsequent depression of long-wavelength receptor potential responses. The suppression of cone-driven response therefore appears to be due to a synaptically mediated influence from 502 nm rods which is maximal when the rods are in the dark-adapted state, with little or no contribution from 433 nm rods, and no involvement of the pigment epithelium.


1973 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hillman ◽  
F. A. Dodge ◽  
S. Hochstein ◽  
B. W. Knight ◽  
B. Minke

The recovery in the dark of the early receptor potential, as a direct manifestation of the state of the visual pigments, has been studied by intracellular recording in the ventral photoreceptors of Limulus and lateral photoreceptors of Balanus. The recovery is exponential with 1/e time constants of about 80 ms at 24°C for both preparations and 1800 ms at 4°C for Balanus. The 24°C rate extrapolates to total recovery of the pigment within 2 s. The later part of the dark adaptation of the late receptor potential, which may take from seconds to minutes in these preparations, appears thus to be unrelated to the state of the pigment.


1982 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Minke

In the transient receptor potential (trp) mutant of Drosophila, the receptor potential appears almost normal in response to a flash but quickly decays to baseline during prolonged illumination. Photometric and early receptor potential measurements of the pigment suggest that the pigment is normal and that the decay of the trp response during illumination does not arise from a reduction in the available photopigment molecules. However, there is reduction in pigment concentration with age. Light adaptation cannot account for the decay of the trp response during illumination: in normal Drosophila a dim background light shortens the latency and rise time of the response and also shifts the intensity response function (V-log I curve) to higher levels of light intensity with relatively little reduction in the maximal amplitude (Vmax) of response. In the trp mutant, a dim background light or short, strong adapting light paradoxically lengthens the latency and rise time of the response and substantially reduces Vmax without a pronounced shift of the V-log I curve along the I axis. The effect of adapting light on the latency and V-log I curve seen in trp are associated with a reduction in effective stimulus intensity (reduction in excitation efficiency) rather than with light adaptation. Removing extracellular Ca+2 reduces light adaptation in normal Drosophila, as evidenced by the appearance of "square" responses to strong illumination. In the trp mutant, removing extracellular Ca+2 does not prevent the decay of the response during illumination.


1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 357-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.B. Arden ◽  
Hisako Ikeda ◽  
I.M. Siegel

1974 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. H. Pinto ◽  
W. L. Pak

The time-course of the light-induced changes in membrane voltage and resistance were measured for single photoreceptors in the retina of Gekko gekko. In the surgically isolated retina, small stimuli directed toward the impaled receptor produced a membrane hyperpolarization the time-course of which was identical to that of the increase in membrane resistance. In the eyecup preparation nearly identical time-courses were evoked only after perfusion of the vitreous surface with solution having high (Mg++). Disparate time-courses were obtained in (a) the isolated retina when large or displaced stimuli were used, and (b) the eyecup preparation when it was treated normally (see Pinto and Pak. 1974. J. Gen. Physiol. 64:49) and when it was exposed to aspartate ions or hypoxia. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the receptor potential (elicited in the impaled receptor as a result of quanta only it captures) is generated by a single ionic process that decreases membrane conductance. These measurements provide a means to distinguish the receptor potential from interactions. From direct measurements of membrane time constant and total resistance in darkness, total membrane capacitance was calculated. The mean capacitance was 7.1 x 10-5 µF. This high value is consistent with anatomical observations of membrane infoldings at the base of gecko photoreceptors.


2008 ◽  
Vol 132 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luba A. Astakhova ◽  
Michael L. Firsov ◽  
Victor I. Govardovskii

The time course of the light-induced activity of phototrandsuction effector enzyme cGMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE) is shaped by kinetics of rhodopsin and transducin shut-offs. The two processes are among the key factors that set the speed and sensitivity of the photoresponse and whose regulation contributes to light adaptation. The aim of this study was to determine time courses of flash-induced PDE activity in frog rods that were dark adapted or subjected to nonsaturating steady background illumination. PDE activity was computed from the responses recorded from solitary rods with the suction pipette technique in Ca2+-clamping solution. A flash applied in the dark-adapted state elicits a wave of PDE activity whose rising and decaying phases have characteristic times near 0.5 and 2 seconds, respectively. Nonsaturating steady background shortens both phases roughly to the same extent. The acceleration may exceed fivefold at the backgrounds that suppress ≈70% of the dark current. The time constant of the process that controls the recovery from super-saturating flashes (so-called dominant time constant) is adaptation independent and, hence, cannot be attributed to either of the processes that shape the main part of the PDE wave. We hypothesize that the dominant time constant in frog rods characterizes arrestin binding to rhodopsin partially inactivated by phosphorylation. A mathematical model of the cascade that considers two-stage rhodopsin quenching and transducin inactivation can mimic experimental PDE activity quite well. The effect of light adaptation on the PDE kinetics can be reproduced in the model by concomitant acceleration on both rhodopsin phosphorylation and transducin turn-off, but not by accelerated arrestin binding. This suggests that not only rhodopsin but also transducin shut-off is under adaptation control.


1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 657-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Claßen-Linke ◽  
H. Stieve

The time course of the recovery of the sensitivity of the Limulus ventral nerve photoreceptor was measured during dark adaptation following light adaptation by a bright 1 or 5 s illumination. The stimulus intensity ICR of a 300 μs light flash evoking a response of criterion amplitude (receptor potential or receptor current under voltage clamp conditions) was used as measure of sensitivity.The time course of dark adaptation shows two phases with time constants in the range of 5-9 s and 300-500 s (15 °C). Only the first of the two phases is significantly changed when the extracel- lular Ca2+-concentration is varied.The power function ICR = a·Io-tDA-b gives a good data fit for each of the two phases of dark adaptation. In the first phase the factor ax and the exponent bx are decreased when the external calcium is lowered from 10 mmol/1 to 250 μmol/1. Conversely a1 and b1 are increased when the Ca2+-concentration is raised to 40 mmol/1. For the second phase neither a2 nor b2 is changed significantly upon the changes in calcium concentration in the same experiments.The two phases of dark adaptation reflect the behaviour of the two components C1 and C2 of the electrical light response (receptor potential or receptor current). Under the conditions described here C, determines the size of the light response during the first phase of dark adaptation whereas C2 mainly influences the size of the response during the second phase.Interpretation: The fast first phase of dark adaptation is determined by the change in intracellu- lar Ca2+-concentration. The slower second phase of dark adaptation is not primarily calcium- controlled.


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