The Sensitivity Shift Due to Light Adaptation Depending on the Extracellular Calcium Ion Concentration in Limulus Ventral Nerve Photoreceptor

Receptor potentials of Limulus ventral photoreceptors were recorded in two defined states of moderate light- and considerable dark adaptation (LA, DA) by a repeated stimulus sequence consisting of a conditioning 2 s illumination (white light, response saturating intensity) followed by two 10 ms test flashes at fixed intervals evoking LA and DA responses (intensity varied from threshold to saturation of response amplitude). The half saturating intensity I50 was determined from response height vs log stimulus intensity curves for LA and DA, while the photoreceptor was superfused either by reference saline (physiological ion concentrations, including 10 mmol/l Ca2+) or by test salines in which the [Ca2+] was varied between 40 μmol/l and 100 mmol/l. The sensitivity of the dark-adapted receptor does not significantly depend on the [Ca2+]ex, but the sensitivity shift due to LA (measured by /50) is reduced when the [Ca2+]ex is lowered, and augmented when the [Ca2+]ex is increased. Additional reduction of the [Na2+]ex from 463 mmol/l to 46 mmol/l or increase of the [Mg2+]ex from 50 mmol/l to 100 mmol/l does not counteract the effect of lowered [Ca2+]ex on LA. The results confirm the assumption that a transient increase of the intracellular [Ca2+] supplied from extracellular sources during the light response is the main cause for LA This calcium effect on light adaptation is neither characterized by a calcium/sodium antagonism, nor mimicked by magnesium, in contrast to the calcium effect on the gating of the light-activated ion channels.