Visual adaptation of the rhodopsin rods in the frogs retina

Intrinsic optical signal imaging of retinal physiology: a review

Intrinsic optical signal (IOS) imaging promises to be a noninvasive method for high-resolution examination of retinal physiology, which can advance the study and diagnosis of eye diseases. While specialized optical instruments are desirable for functional IOS imaging of retinal physiology, in depth understanding of multiple IOS sources in the complex retinal neural network is essential for optimizing instrument designs. We provide a brief overview of IOS studies and relationships in rod outer segment suspensions, isolated retinas, and intact eyes. Recent developments of line-scan confocal and functional optical coherence tomography (OCT) instruments have allowed in vivo IOS mapping of photoreceptor physiology. Further improvements of the line-scan confocal and functional OCT systems may provide a feasible solution to pursue functional IOS mapping of human photoreceptors. Some interesting IOSs have already been detected in inner retinal layers, but better development of the IOS instruments and software algorithms is required to achieve optimal physiological assessment of inner retinal neurons.

Dark adaptation and the retinoid cycle of vision

Following exposure of our eye to very intense illumination, we experience a greatly elevated visual threshold, that takes tens of minutes to return completely to normal. The slowness of this phenomenon of "dark adaptation" has been studied for many decades, yet is still not fully understood. Here we review the biochemical and physical processes involved in eliminating the products of light absorption from the photoreceptor outer segment, in recycling the released retinoid to its original isomeric form as 11-cis retinal, and in regenerating the visual pigment rhodopsin. Then we analyse the time-course of three aspects of human dark adaptation: the recovery of psychophysical threshold, the recovery of rod photoreceptor circulating current, and the regeneration of rhodopsin. We begin with normal human subjects, and then analyse the recovery in several retinal disorders, including Oguchi disease, vitamin A deficiency, fundus albipunctatus, Bothnia dystrophy and Stargardt disease. We review a large body of evidence showing that the time-course of human dark adaptation and pigment regeneration is determined by the local concentration of 11-cis retinal, and that after a large bleach the recovery is limited by the rate at which 11-cis retinal is delivered to opsin in the bleached rod outer segments. We present a mathematical model that successfully describes a wide range of results in human and other mammals. The theoretical analysis provides a simple means of estimating the relative concentration of free 11-cis retinal in the retina/RPE, in disorders exhibiting slowed dark adaptation, from analysis of psychophysical measurements of threshold recovery or from analysis of pigment regeneration kinetics.

Excitation and desensitization of mouse rod photoreceptors in vivo following bright adapting light

Electroretinographic (ERG) methods were used to determine response properties of mouse rod photoreceptors in vivo following adapting illumination that produced a significant extent of rhodopsin bleaching. Bleaching levels prevailing at approximately 10 min and approximately 20 min after the adapting exposure were on average 14 % and 9 %, respectively, based on the analysis of visual cycle retinoids in the eye tissues. Recovery of the rod response to the adapting light was monitored by analysing the ERG a-wave response to a bright probe flash presented at varying times during dark adaptation. A paired-flash procedure, in which the probe flash was presented at defined times after a weak test flash of fixed strength, was used to determine sensitivity of the rod response to the test flash. Recovery of the response to the adapting light was 80 % complete at 13.5 +/- 3.0 min (mean +/- S.D.; n = 7) after adapting light offset. The adapting light caused prolonged desensitization of the weak-flash response derived from paired-flash data. By comparison with results obtained in the absence of the adapting exposure, desensitization determined with a test-probe interval of 80 ms was ~fourfold after 5 min of dark adaptation and approximately twofold after 20 min. The results indicate, for mouse rods in vivo, that the time scale for recovery of weak-flash sensitivity substantially exceeds that for the recovery of circulating current following significant rhodopsin bleaching. The lingering desensitization may reflect a reduced efficiency of signal transmission in the phototransduction cascade distinct from that due to residual excitation.

Confronting complexity: the interlink of phototransduction and retinoid metabolism in the vertebrate retina

Absorption of light by rhodopsin or cone pigments in photoreceptors triggers photoisomerization of their universal chromophore, 11-cis-retinal, to all-trans-retinal. This photoreaction is the initial step in phototransduction that ultimately leads to the sensation of vision. Currently, a great deal of effort is directed toward elucidating mechanisms that return photoreceptors to the dark-adapted state, and processes that restore rhodopsin and counterbalance the bleaching of rhodopsin. Most notably, enzymatic isomerization of all-trans-retinal to 11-cis-retinal, called the visual cycle (or more properly the retinoid cycle), is required for regeneration of these visual pigments. Regeneration begins in rods and cones when all-trans-retinal is reduced to all-trans-retinol. The process continues in adjacent retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE), where a complex set of reactions converts all-trans-retinol to 11-cis-retinal. Although remarkable progress has been made over the past decade in understanding the phototransduction cascade, our understanding of the retinoid cycle remains rudimentary. The aim of this review is to summarize recent developments in our current understanding of the retinoid cycle at the molecular level, and to examine the relevance of these reactions to phototransduction.

Dark adaptation of toad rod photoreceptors following small bleaches

The recovery of toad rod photoreceptors, following exposure to intense lights that bleached 0.02-3% of the rhodopsin, has been investigated using the suction pipette technique. The post-bleach period was accompanied by reduced flash sensitivity, accelerated kinetics, and spontaneous fluctuations (noise). The power spectrum of the fluctuations had substantially the form expected for the random occurrence of single-photon events, and the noise could therefore be expressed as a "photon-noise equivalent intensity". From the level of desensitization at any time, the after-effect of the bleach could also be expressed in terms of a "desensitization-equivalent intensity", and this was found to be at least a factor of 20 times higher than the noise-equivalent intensity at the corresponding time. Our results indicate that a bleach induces two closely-related phenomena: (a) a process indistinguishable from the effect of real light, and (b) another process which desensitizes and accelerates the response in the same way that light does, but without causing photon-like noise. We propose a mechanism underlying these processes.

Visual latency and brightness: an interpretation based on the responses of rods and ganglion cells in the frog retina

Rod and cone photoresponses in a variety of species have been accurately described with linear multistage filter models. In this study, the response latency and initial coding of intensity at two higher levels of visual processing are related to such photoreceptor responses. One level is the retinal output (spiking discharges from frog ganglion cells, based on experimental data reported here), the other is the perceptual level in humans (psychophysical latency and brightness functions, based on data from the literature). Photoreceptor responses are described with the "independent activation" model of Baylor et al. (1974). The intensity dependence of the early ganglion cell discharge, its latency and initial impulse frequency, is shown to follow from such a waveform, assuming that 1) latency L = l + D, where l is the time it takes for the rod response linearly summed over the ganglion cell's receptive field to reach a criterion amplitude, and D is a constant delay; and 2) the initial frequency (below saturation) is proportional to the steepness of rise of the summed rod response at time l. It is shown that the intensity dependences of 1) human visual latency and 2) brightness sensation, including effects of stimulus area and duration, are accounted for by the same model. The predicted functions are not power functions of intensity, but approximate such over wide ranges. Thus, a large body of psychophysical data is explained simply by the waveform of photoreceptor responses.

Adaptation-related changes in the spatial and temporal summation of frog retinal ganglion cells

The spatial and temporal summation of light by the receptive field centre of frog retinal ganglion cells were studied by extracellular recording in the eyecup preparation. The purpose was to quantify how summation changes with the state of light and dark adaptation and to clarify whether changes are due to the transition between rod and cone vision. Spatial summation was found to decrease by 30-50% as the cell was light-adapted to a threshold some 4 log units above the dark-adapted one. Temporal summation for threshold responses fell as the power -0.17 of the intensity of an adapting steady background. Neither change was bound to the rod-cone transition but occurred in the ranges of both receptor types; at equal sensitivities the summation of both receptor systems was matched.

Surround control of center adaptation in the receptive fields of frog retinal ganglion cells

The sensitivity and intensity-response [R(log I)] functions of the receptive field center were determined by extracellular recording from frog retinal ganglion cells. The object was to study the steady-state adapting effects of peripheral background patterns: steady annuli and spinning "windmills" of light. Steady annular backgrounds could not be shown to directly effect any change of center responsiveness, only an enhancement of late response components attributable to depression of surround sensitivity. Movement of a windmill pattern shifted R(log I) functions to higher log intensities and decreased the maximal number of spikes in the response, but did not depress the saturation level of the impulse frequency. Its action thus resembled direct light-adaptation of the center.

Chromatic properties of the retinal afferents in the thalamus and the tectum of the frog (Rana temporaria)

In order to clarify physiological mechanisms underlying colour-specific visually guided behaviour, we measured spectral sensitivities of On-fibres projecting to the thalamus and class 2 and 3 fibres passing to tectum opticum. In addition we recorded responses of these fibres to moving coloured papers with known spectral reflectancies. The latter method, here called paper colourimetry, allowed us to change the relative stimulations of the blue-, green- and red-sensitive photoreceptors in any direction desired. Under the photopic conditions used the tectal fibres were driven exclusively by red-sensitive receptors, while the thalamic fibres received strong On-inputs from both red- and blue-sensitive receptors. Due to a partly antagonistic interaction between these inputs the On-fibres acted in a dichromatic way, responding with specific extended low-frequency discharges to all relative increases in blue receptor stimulation, e.g. to a great reduction in red stimulation combined with unchanged blue stimulation. Thus they have functional characteristics which could serve a visual system showing colour constancy.

Center and surround excitation in the receptive fields of frog retinal ganglion cells

We have reexamined the receptive fields of frog retinal ganglion cells focussing on their surround properties. Carefully excluding artifacts due to stimulation of the (Gaussian) RF center, we found that spiking responses can be elicited by step stimulation of any receptor type in the surrounds of all the classes 1-4 Maturana et al. (1960) (J. gen. Physiol. 43, 129-175). The surround responses are antagonized by the responsive center and suppressed by the inhibitory surround, but are seen because of their slower dynamics. The responsive surround differs spectrally from the center: in the latter, cones and green rods compete, in the former, their signals sum.

Desensitization of skate photoreceptors by bleaching and background light

Through extracellular measurements of photoreceptor responses to flashed stimuli, we examined how the bleaching of rhodopsin affects increment receptor threshold in the isolated retina of the skate (Raja oscellata and R. erinacea). Both initially unbleached and previously bleached photoreceptors, when exposed to full-field luminous backgrounds of fixed intensity, attain approximately stable levels of increment threshold that vary with the intensity of the background light. Values of stabilized increment thresholds measured after various extents of bleaching (less than approximately 50%), when plotted against background intensity in log-log coordinates, tend to converge with increasing intensity of the background; this relationship of the increment threshold functions resembles that which Blakemore and Rushton (1965b) found to describe the transient effect of bleaching on psychophysical increment threshold for the human rod mechanism. Our data are consistent with the possibility that related photochemical processes govern the stabilized levels of receptor sensitivity exhibited by the isolated retina (a) during steady illumination and (b) long after substantial bleaching.

Rhodopsin kinetics in the cat retina

The bleaching and regeneration of rhodopsin in the living cat retina was studied by means of fundus reflectometry. Bleaching was effected by continuous light exposures of 1 min or 20 min, and the changes in retinal absorbance were measured at 29 wavelengths. For all of the conditions studied (fractional bleaches of from 65 to 100%), the regeneration of rhodopsin to its prebleach levels required greater than 60 min in darkness. After the 1-min exposures, the difference spectra recorded during the first 10 min of dark adaptation were dominated by photoproduct absorption, and rhodopsin regeneration kinetics were obscured by these intermediate processes. Extending the bleaching duration to 20 min gave the products of photolysis an opportunity to dissipate, and it was possible to follow the regenerative process over its full time-course. It was not possible, however, to fit these data with the simple exponential function predicted by first-order reaction kinetics. Other possible mechanisms were considered and are presented in the text. Nevertheless, the kinetics of regeneration compared favorably with the temporal changes in log sensitivity determined electrophysiologically by other investigators. Based on the bleaching curve for cat rhodopsin, the photosensitivity was determined and found to approximate closely the value obtained for human rhodopsin; i.e., the energy Ec required to bleach 1-e-1 of the available rhodopsin was 7.09 log scotopic troland-seconds (corrected for the optics of the cat eye), as compared with approximately 7.0 in man.

Longitudinal spread of adaptation in the rods of the frog's retina

1. The stimulus-response function of the red rods in the retina of the common frog (Rana temporaria) was determined in different adaptational states by measuring aspartate-isolated receptor responses. 2. Flash stimuli, background adaptations and bleaches were delivered through the same optical channel forming an oblique light-beam striking the receptor side of the isolated and flat-mounted retina at an angle of 10 degrees. 3. When the light was blue-green and optimally polarized the absorbance of the receptor layer was about 2, from which follows that 70-80% of the light was absorbed in the distal third of the rod outer segments, i.e. the exposure was local. Homogeneous exposures of the whole rod outer segments were obtained with orange and red lights. 4. Combinations of homogeneous and local stimuli with homogeneous and local adaptations were used to investigate the longitudinal spread of background, intermediate and opsin adaptation, i.e. the sensitivity-reducing effect of a background light, and the transient and permanent sensitivity losses following a bleach isomerizing 3.5-26% (usually 10%) of the rhodopsin in the retina. 5. The results obtained were related to predictions based both on the assumption that the adaptation effects spread longitudinally within the rod outer segments and the assumption that they are strictly confined to the disks absorbing the adapting lights. 6. These comparisons reveal that all three types of adaptation spread longitudinally. It is for instance clear that the sensitivity loss observed with homogeneous stimuli and local adaptation (as compared to homogeneous adaptation) is larger than that predicted by the non-spreading hypothesis. 7. The longitudinal spread of background adaptation is largely finished within 10 sec after turning on the background light, while an efficient spread of the intermediate adaptation effect may require minutes. 8. A background light decreasing the sensitivity by about one log unit decreases the time from flash to response maximum from 5 to 1 sec (small responses). Corresponding opsin adaptation effects are accompanied by less dramatic changes in response kinetics. 9. Independent of adaptation type - homogeneous or local, background, intermediate or opsin - it was found that local stimuli are less efficient that homogeneous stimuli in light-adapted retinae. This effect can be explained assuming that the sensitivity-reducing effects are pronounced in the distal than in the proximal parts of the rod outer segments. 10. The opsin adaptation effect following 10% local bleaches decreases the sensitivity to both homogeneous and local stimuli 2-3 times more than corresponding homogeneous bleaches. This means that the strength of the opsin effect is not related to the average percentage bleached but to the fraction bleached in the distal part of the rod, or generally to the fraction bleached in the most affected region. 11...

Receptive fields of frog retinal ganglion cells: response formation and light-dark-adaptation

1. The excitatory and inhibitory receptive field mechanisms of retinal ganglion cells were studied by extracellular recording from the eyecup of Rana temporaria in order to elucidate the nature of adaptational changes in the functioning of the receptive field. 2. The responses to large stimuli were always strongly depressed relative to responses evoked by smaller spots. This was true even in the fully dark-adapted state and at the very lowest stimuli intensities. 3. Threshold measurements confirmed earlier findings, usually revealing the surround only in light-adapted states. However, in more than 10% of fully dark-adapted cells thresholds to large stimuli were significantly elevated. 4. The central summation area of the receptive field was found to shrink with light-adaptation. There was a gradual decrease in diameters, amounting to some 20-30%, from the dark-adapted, rod-determined receptive fields to the cone-determined ones. 5. Adaptation by bleaching and adaptation by backgrounds changed the effects of the surround in different ways. After a rhodopsin bleach the transition from a light-adapted to a dark-adapted situation was seen as an abrupt drop of large-stimulus thresholds at some time during adaptation. Steady backgrounds produced no such dramatic changes, but the increment threshold lines were somewhat steeper with test spots stimulated the surround than with smaller spots. 6. Although the discharge patterns generally show the strength of the surround influence, they underwent no qualitative change at the time of the drop of large-stimulus thresholds after a bleach. 7. It is suggested that the drop does not reflect a sudden reorganization of the receptive field, but is the consequence of the different ways the response to large stimuli are formed in different ranges of stimulus intensity (pre-inhibitory at high intensities, post-inhibitory at low intensities), and of gradual changes in signal dynamics.

Recovery of cat retinal ganglion cell sensitivity following pigment bleaching

1. The threshold illuminance for small spot stimulation of on-centre cat retinal ganglion cells was plotted vs. time after exposure to adapting light sufficiently strong to bleach significant amounts of rhodopsin. 2. When the entire receptive field of an X- or Y-type ganglion cell is bleached by at most 40%, recovery of the cell's rod-system proceeds in two phases: an early relatively fast one during which the response appears transient, and a late, slower one during which responses become more sustained. Log threshold during the later phase is well fit by an exponential in time (tau = 11.5-38 min). 3. After bleaches of 90% of the underlying pigment, threshold is cone-determined for as long as 40 min. Rod threshold continues to decrease for at least 85 min after the bleach. 4. The rate of recovery is slower after strong than after weak bleaches; 10 and 90% bleaches yield time constants for the later phase of 11.5 and 38 min, respectively. This contrasts with an approximate time constant of 11 min for rhodopsin regeneration following any bleach. 5. The relationship between the initial elevation of log rod threshold extrapolated from the fitted exponential curves and the initial amount of pigment bleached is monotonic, but nonlinear. 6. After a bleaching exposure, the maintained discharge is initially very regular. The firing rate first rises, then falls to the pre-bleach level, with more extended time courses of change in firing rate after stronger exposures. The discharge rate is restored before threshold has recovered fully. 7. The change in the response vs. log stimulus relationship after bleaching is described as a shift of the curve to the right, paired with a decrease in slope of the linear segment of the curve.

Dark-adaptation of the aspartate-isolated rod receptor potential of the frog retina: threshold measurements

1. The dark-adaptation of the aspartate-isolated rod receptor potential of the isolated and perfused frog retina has been measured after bleaching about 5-10% of the rhodopsin. The fraction bleached (DeltaR) and the decay of rhodopsin photoproducts were determined using alternating measurements with a photometric technique (Donner & Hemilä, 1975).2. The dark-adaptation time course of the log threshold elevation is exponential, log I(t)/I(0) = W exp (-t/tau)+P, where W is the extrapolated value for log I(t)/I(0)-P at t = 0 and P is log I(t)/I(0) for t = infinity. When DeltaR increases from 2 to 10% W increases from ca. 2.6 to ca. 5. The time constant tau is about 13 min at 9 degrees C and 7 min at 14 degrees C (DeltaR = 5-10%).3. When the bleaching period is extended, keeping the amount bleached (Ixt) constant, dark-adaptation is completed earlier.4. The time course of dark-adaptation and the decay of the photoproduct ;retinal' are similar, as is also their dependence on temperature (Q(10) approximately 3).5. The permanent log threshold rise P is approximately proportional to DeltaR after small bleaches; when more than about 10% is bleached the slope of the curve P(DeltaR) decreases. P is considerably larger (about 2.5-fold) for the same fraction bleached in experiments at 14 degrees C as compared to experiments at 9 degrees C.6. A comparison with previously obtained corresponding values for dark-adaptation after small bleaches at the ganglion cell level shows a close agreement between the time constants for the dark-adaptation curve, its range and the dependence of threshold on the fraction of rhodopsin bleached.

An analysis of rod outer segment adaptation based on a simple equivalent circuit

This model of rod outer segment adaptation is based on the hypothesis that transmitter substance released by bleached rhodopsin closes sodium channels in the outer segment plasma membrane, leading to hyperpolarization of the receptor. The outer segment adaptation processes of the model are associated with the transmitter release, the transmitter background concentration and the plasma membrane leakage. Changes in the three model parameters correspond to the three types of outer segment adaptation process. According to the model the stimulus-response function is in every adaptational state U/Umax = I/(I + IH). The model predicts how each adaptation process affects IH and Umax. Specifically, when the number of liberated transmitter molecules per isomerizing quantum decreases, the amplitude Umax remains constant but IH increases. A short description of this model has been published in a paper reporting experimental results on background adaptation (Hemilä, 1977).

Regeneration of rhodopsin in frog rod outer segments

1. Bleaching/regeneration cycles were performed in perfused frog retina while the optical transmittance at suitable wave-lengths was measured continously. Rhodopsin was identified from its spectral absorbance, its photosensitivity and from the kinetics of its regeneration. 2. In the absence of the pigment epithelium regeneration was complete when not more than 2-5% of the rhodopsin initially present had been bleached. However, the cycles could be repeated to a total of regenerated rhodopsin exceeding that explicable on the utilization of stored chromophores. The rate of regeneration was fast, with 0-12 min-1 rate constant, following first order reaction kinetics. Under these conditions the cycle does not seem to involve stages beyond metarhodopsin II. With the moderate bleaching intensities used, half-time 53 min, the Bunsen-Roscoe law was obeyed up to 15 min, indicating a capacity for the photoproducts to be accomondated in situ for subsequent regeneration. 3. It is concluded that only substantial bleaches, which exceed that capacity, result in hydrolysed chromophores. These surplus chromophores become esterified and are temporarily taken up by the pigment epithelium to be re-entered into the visual cycle as fast as they can be processed by the regenerative machinery of the rod outer segments.

Background adaptation in the rods of the frog's retina

1. Aspartate-isolated photoresponses of the red rods to flashes and steps of light have been recorded, both in the presence of and without background lights of varying strength. 2. The results are interpreted in terms of a model of rod outer segment adaptation, where the three model parameters correspond to the adaptation processes associated with the transmitter release, the transmitter background concentration and the plasma membrane leakage, respectively. 3. The stimulus-response function deviated somewhat from the Michaelis equation U/Umax=I/(I + IH). During light-adaptation the operating curve, the stimulus-response function plotted in a log-log diagram, retained approximately its shape while moving strongly to the right along the log intensity axis and to a lesser degree downwards (Umax-decrease). 4. The movement of the operating curve was such that the rods approximately obeyed Weber's law. In the cases of flash and step of light stimuli the movement of the operating curve was about the same. 5. When a moderate background light was turned on a large decrease of sensitivity was first observed. During a period 0-5-1 min the sensitivity increased towards the stationary value. After extinguishing the background light the dark sensitivity returned in 0-5-1 min and then a period of hypersensitivity lasting typically 1 min was observed. 6. The experimental results, as interpreted according to the model, indicate that light-adaptation decreases q, the number of transmitter molecules released by one bleached rhodopsin molecule. 7. There is probably an adaptation process also in the rod inner segment, which increases the sensitivty of the rod to transient stimuli.

Rhodopsin photoproducts and rod sensitivity in the skate retina

The late photoproducts that result from the isomerization of rhodopsin have been identified in the isolated all-rod retina of the skate by means of rapid spectrophotometry. The sequence in which these intermediates form and decay could be described by a scheme that incorporates two pathways for the degradation of metarhodopsin II (MII) to retinol: one via metarhodopsin III (MIII) and the other (which bypasses MIII) through retinal. Computer simulation of the model yielded rate constants and spectral absorbance coefficients for the late photoproducts which fit experimental data obtained at temperatures ranging from 7 degrees C to 27 degrees C. Comparing the kinetics of the thermal reactions with the changes in rod threshold that occur during dark adaptation indicated that the decay of MII and the fall in receptor thresholds exhibit similarities with regard to their temperature dependence. However, the addition of 2 mM hydroxylamine to a perfusate bathing the retina greatly accelerated the photochemical reactions, but had no significant effect on the rate of recovery of rod sensitivity. It appears, therefore, that the late bleaching intermediates do not control the sensitivities of skate rods during dark adaptation.

Effects of alcohol on ganglion cell receptive field properties and sensitivity in the frog retina

Previous results have shown that alcohol has an effect on vision and on the excitability of retinal neurons. Action potentials of single ganglion cells were recorded by microelectrodes in opened and excised eyes from frogs (Rana temporaria L.). Histologically two types of synapses have been described in the retina: conventional synapses and synapses with a ribbon or bar shaped component surrounded by a rather uniform layer of synaptic vesicles. The "ribbon synapses" are presynaptic contacts in receptor and bipolar cells while horizontal and amacrine cells have conventional synapses. Tests with ethanol doses up to 0.2% indicated stronger effects on the conventional synapses than on the ribbon synapses. Alcohol decreased or abolished the lateral inhibition ( inhibitory surround) mediated by the amacrine cells and depressed the signals from the green rods, which apparently are mediated by horizontal cells. Further alcohol decreased the sensitivity of the signals from the completely dark-adapted red rods in the retina, and increased the sensitivity of the cone-mediated responses for class 3 and deviating class 4 cells, when measured against a background light. Alcohol also increased the latency of the response up to 55 msec. depending on the size of the stimulus field.

Sensitivity of toad rods: Dependence on wave-length and background illumination

1. There are five morphological types of photoreceptors in the retina of the toad, Bufo marinus: red and green rods, single cones, and the principal and accessory members of double cones. The largest and most abundant of these is the red rod. 2. Intracellular recordings were used to investigate the dependence of the sensitivity of red rod responses on wave-length and background light. 3. The spectral sensitivity of dark-adapted and moderately light-adapted red rods can be satisfactorily fitted with the absorbance spectrum of the red rod photopigment. There are no significant contributions to red rod responses from cones or green rods. 4. In contrast, L-type horizontal cells, whose responses are dominated by input from the red rods near threshold, can be shown also to receive input from cones. 5. Steady background light produces a response in the red rods consisting of an initial hyperpolarization, followed by a decay of potential to a steady-state plateau level. The slow decay of response amplitude is accompanied by an increase in sensitivity to increment test flashes. 6. The increment sensitivity at steady-state decreases with increasing background intensity according to a modified Weber-Fechner relation. The dependence of increment sensitivity on the wave-length of the background light can be predicted by the red rod spectral sensitivity, showing that cones do not influence the light adaptation of rods. 7. At a background [corrected] intensity of 11-5 log equivalent quanta cm-2sec-1, sensitivity begins to deviate from the Weber-Fechner relation. In background light one log unit brighter, the rods are completely saturated. 8. Small responses having the spectral sensitivity of cones can be recorded from saturated rods. These potentials have a prominent off response whose wave form resembles the d-wave of the e.r.g. 9. A comparison of the increment--sensitivity curves of single receptors shows that rods are light-adapted by backgrounds one thousand times dimmer than those which affect cones. The increment--sensitivity curves of rods and cones cross, so that single cones become more sensitive than single rods even before the rods begin to saturate.

Rushton's paradox: rod dark adaptation after flash photolysis

1. Rod dark adaptations after a photoregenerating flash and quantum-equivalent 30 sec bleach are found to be in exact agreement, while the measured rhodopsin regenerations are grossly different. This finding confirms and clarifies "Rushton's paradox', the failure of the Dowling-Rushton equation (linking log sensitivity linearly with unregenerated rhodopsin) to account for human rod dark adaptation after flash photolysis. 2. The hypothesis that the agreement between rod dark adaptation curves after a photoregenerating flash and after a quantum-equivalent 30 sec bleach is coincidental is rejected on the basic of two classes of experiments. 3. Rod "bleaching' adaptation is demonstrated to be entirely determined by the number of rhodopsin molecules which absorb at least one quantum in a temporal period T, whose range includes the time interval 600 musec less than or equal T less than or equal 30 sec. This generalization obtains over the entire scotopic energy range (congruent to 3 log units) where rod dark adaptations has been studied. 4. Thus, the state of "bleaching' adaptation is determined by some by-product of the normal chain of events in scotopic excitation. About this by-product three important deductions are made: (i) its production is a monotonic function of the initial effective quantum absorptions; (ii) its production occurs before the metarhodopsin I leads to to metarhodopsin II dark reaction; (iii) it cannot be any photoproduct of the rhodopsin cycle.

Intracellular recordings of rod responses during dark-adaptation

1. Dark-adaptation of rod photoreceptors has been studied in the isolated axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) retina by intracellular recordings. Rod responsiveness was greatly reduced immediately after a 30 sec partial bleach, but partially recovered with time in the dark. 2. In parallel spectrophotometric measurements using isolated retinas, regeneration of the rod pigment could not be detected after a 30 sec bleach. 3. During rod dark-adaptation, the response of a rod to a given stimulus increased in amplitude, duration, and rate of rise but did not recover completely to the dark-adapted values. Response latency was lengthened immediately after a bleach but ultimately returned to the dark-adapted level. 4. The time courses of dark-adaptation determined on the basis of the intensity of a stimulus needed to evoke a response having a criterion amplitude, a criterion duration, or a criterion rate of rise were similar. On the other hand changes in latency of the response and magnitude of the saturated amplitude followed different time courses. Change in log threshold was found to be related to change in saturated amplitude by an exponential function during dark-adaptation. 5. After bleaching 10% or less of the rod pigment, the kinetics of both recovery of log threshold and decrease in absorbance at 400 nm (metarhodopsin II+free retinal) could be described by two concurrent first-order processes having similar time constants. However, after bleaching more than 10% of the rod pigment, changes in sensitivity and absorbance did not follow parallel time courses. 6. Metarhodopsin III cannot be solely responsible for setting the axolotl rod sensitivity since rod thresholds decrease monotonically during dark-adaptation whereas meta III concentration reaches a peak 3 min after the bleach and decreases thereafter.

Molecular aspects of photoreceptor function

The description of the molecular processes which underlie visual excitation is the fundamental problem in understanding vision at the level of a single photoreceptor. Thus far only a general outline of photoreceptor function has emerged with little known about actual biochemical and biophysical mechanisms.

Retinal mechanisms of visual adaptation in the skate

Electrical potentials were recorded from different levels within the skate retina. Comparing the adaptive properties of the various responses revealed that the isolated receptor potential and the S-potential always exhibited similar changes in sensitivity, and that the b-wave and ganglion-cell thresholds acted in concert. However, the two sets of responses behaved differently under certain conditions. For example, a dimly iluminated background that had no measurable effect on the senitivities of either of the distal responses, raised significantly the thresholds of both the b-wave and the ganglion cell responses. In addition, the rate of recovery during the early, "neural" phase of dark adaptation was significantly faster for the receptor and S-potentials than for the b-wave or ganglion cell discharge. These results indicate that there is an adaptive ("network") mechanism in the retina which can influence significantly b-wave and gaglion cell activity and which behaves independently of the receptors and horizontal cells. We conclude that visual adaptation in the skate retina is regulated by a combination of receptoral and network mechanisms.

Receptive field organization of ganglion cells in the frog retina: contributions from cones, green rods and red rods

1. The impulse discharge of ganglion cells was recorded with extracellular micro-electrodes in the excised and opened eye of the common frog, Rana temporaria. 2. When a single unit was isolated, the cell type was first determined according to the Maturana, Lettvin, McCulloch & Pitts (1960) classification with the aid of varying moving and stationary stimuli. 3. Class 4 cells respond only to a decrease of light when cones are stimulated but respond to an increase of light when green rods are stimulated. A distinct class of deviating class 4 cells was found that give a brief high frequency burst at 'off' from their small excitatory receptive fields (ERF); unlike typical class 4 cells they possess a purely inhibitory surrounding field (IRF).4. The contributions from the cones and the green and red rods were isolated by measuring the thresholds of the discharges with on-off stimuli of varying wave-lengths against strong yellow backgrounds, or against a very weak background or no background at all. The spatial distribution of the contributions to the ERF was determined by mapping threshold profiles, and additional information about ERF and IRF was obtained from area-threshold curves. 5. The cone-mediated ERFs were found to be 0-06-0-50 mm wide (1-5-12 degrees of visual field), which agrees well with the sizes of the dendritic trees of the ganglion cells. The green rod-mediated ERFs can be 0-5-1-5 mm wide and have less distinct boundaries than the cone-mediated. The green rod-mediated ERF of an individual ganglion cell is always larger than the cone-mediated ERF of the same cell. The red rod-mediated ERFs seem to be somewhat larger than the cone-mediated but smaller than the green rod-mediated. 6. The green rods contribute only to the on thresholds of class 1, 2 and 4 cells, but both to on and off in typical class 3 cells, while the cones contribute to on and off in classes 1-3 and only to off in class 4.7. When the red rods begin to contribute during dark adaptation they seem to enter the cone but not the green rod channels. 8. All three receptor types contribute to the IRF surrounding the ERF of classes 1, 2, 3 and deviating class 4 cells. Normal class 4 cells have no IRF. 9. The organization of the receptive fields is discussed in relation to the anatomy and electrophysiology of the cell types transmitting the signals from the receptors to the ganglion cells.

Kinetics of slow thermal reactions during the bleaching of rhodopsin in the perfused frog retina

1. Slow thermal reactions occurring in the rhodopsin rods of flash-irradiated frog retinas were investigated spectrophotometrically.2. Five substances were identified as reactants: metarhodopsin II, metarhodopsin III, all-trans-retinal, opsin, and all-trans-retinol.3. Quantitative analysis showed that the transition between these substances are not a series of three consecutive reactions.4. An alternative scheme, compatible with the results, consisted of four reactions and involved two parallel pathways for the decay of metarhodopsin II, viz. conversion into metarhodopsin III, and hydrolysis into retinal and opsin.5. The first-order rate constants for the four reactions were as follows: 1.4 x 10(-2) sec(-1) for the conversion of metarhodopsin II into metarhodopsin III; 7.9 x 10(-3) sec(-1) for the hydrolysis of metarhodopsin II; 1.4 x 10(-3) sec(-1) for the hydrolysis of metarhodopsin III; and 2.6 x 10(-3) sec(-1) for the reduction of retinal into retinol (21 degrees C).6. Two other four-parameter schemes involving an equilibrium between metarhodopsin II and metarhodopsin III were also considered. One was found to be incompatible with the results. The other, though adequate, did not describe the data as well as the model summarized in 4 and 5. It also had the peculiar property of requiring that two apparently independent parameters be equated.