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Modulation of transduction gain in light adaptation of retinal rods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

David R. Pepperberg ,
Jing Jin  and
Gregor J. Jones
David R. Pepperberg
Affiliation:
Lions of Illinois Eye Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago
Jing Jin
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston
Gregor J. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston
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Abstract

The effect of light adaptation on the period of photocurrent saturation induced by a bright stimulating flash was examined in rod photoreceptors of the larval-stage tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum). Using suction electrodes, photocurrent responses to brief flashes were recorded from single, isolated rods in the presence and absence of steady background illumination. Background light decreased the saturation period (T) measured at fixed flash intensity (fixed If) and in this respect light-adapted the saturating response. Effects of the background on responses to weak (i.e. subsaturating) and bright flashes were compared with changes in a parameter, where ΔT is the decrease in saturation period, and where TR* is the slope of the line that relates T and ln If in a given state of adaptation. Dark- and light-adapted responses to flash intensities and , respectively, exhibited similar absolute peak photocurrent and falling-phase kinetics when and satisfied the relation, , where Ib is the background intensity. It is argued that ψ approximates the relative PDE*/R* gain of transduction, i.e. the relative peak level of activated cGMP phosphodiesterase (PDE*) produced by a given, small amount of photoactivated visual pigment (R*). Interpreted on this view, the results imply that light adaptation derives largely from a decrease in PDE*/R* gain, rather than from the stimulation of guanylate cyclase activity. The data are consistent with the possibility that modulation of the lifetime of PDE* underlies the background dependence of ψ.

Keywords

Light adaptationBackground desensitizationRodPhotoreceptorPhototransduction
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 53 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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