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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Joseph C. Besharse  and
Paul Witkovsky
Joseph C. Besharse
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City
Paul Witkovsky
Affiliation:
Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology and Biophysics, New York University School of Medicine, New York
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Abstract

To 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.

Keywords

PhotoreceptorsRetinomotor movementDopamineSpectral sensitivity
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , March 1992 , pp. 243 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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