Visual adaptation of the rhodopsin rods in the frog's retina

Donner, Karl Johan; Reuter, Tom

doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1968.sp008639

Cited by 75 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…9), and at a tenfold brighter background even a very intense increment flash cannot elicit a detectable response. Increment saturation has also been observed in mudpuppy (Normann & Werblin, 1974) and gecko rods (Kleinschmidt & Dowling, 1975), and has been detected in a variety of other species by extracellular measurements (Donner & Reuter, 1968;Green, 1971;Penn & Hagins,1972;Witkovsky, Dudek & Ripps, 1975). It also occurs in man.…”

Section: Light Adaptation Of Toad Rode8mentioning

confidence: 88%

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

Fain¹

1976

The Journal of Physiology

264

197

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SU3MMARY1. There are five morphological types of photoreceptors in the retina of the toad, Bufo marines: 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 lightadapted 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 intensity of 11-5 log equivalent quanta cm-2 sec', 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. INTRODUCTIONThere is now abundant evidence that much of visual behaviour has its basis in the physiology of photoreceptors. Psychophysical phenomena such as dark adaptation, light adaptation, wave-length discrimination, contrast sensitivity, directional sensitivity, and lateral summation all have been observed to some extent in the signals of single rods and cones (Grabowski & Pak, 1975; Kleinschmidt, 1973; Fuortes, Schwartz & Simon, 1973; Baylor, Fuortes & O'Bryan, 1971; Baylor & Fettiplace, 1975). For this reason, the investigation of receptor responses should lead to a clearer understanding of the neural basis for visual perception. Although much has been learned over the last few years about the physiology of vertebrate cones (Baylor & Fuortes, 1970;Baylor et al. 1971;Fuortes et al. 1973;Baylor & Hodgkin, 1973 Baylor, Hodgkin & Lamb, 1974; Baylor & Fettiplace, 1975), les...

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Section: Light Adaptation Of Toad Rode8mentioning

confidence: 88%

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

Fain¹

1976

The Journal of Physiology

264

197

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“…This IRF is not, however, activated by a diffuse steady background (Donner & Reuter, 1968). Werblin (1972) and Werblin & Copenhagen (1974) have shown that this change-induced lateral inhibition probably is carried by amacrine cells.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then a yellow background light (564 or 558 nrm interference filters, Schott & Gen., IL, about 3 x 1011 photons mm-2 sec-' reaching the retinal surface) was turned on. This light kept the red rods saturated (Donner & Reuter, 1968;Normann & Werblin, 1974) and facilitated the study of the green rod contribution by selectively depressing the cone sensitivity (Donner & Reuter, 1962). Further it tended to minimize occasional spontaneous activity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The methods used were basically the same as those described by Donner & Reuter (1968) and Reuter (1969). The eyes were excised and opened in white light and kept in a cooled chamber at 11-13°C during the experiments.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The responses were amplified and displayed in the usual manner (for sample recordings see Reuter & Virtanen, 1972). The stimulating light reached the eye through two channels, each with arrangements for inserting interference filters, and neutral filters and wedges (see Donner & Reuter, 1968). One of the channels was used for steady background illuminations, the other for varying stimuli, which were well focused on the retina.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Bäckström¹,

Reuter²

1975

The Journal of Physiology

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SUMMARY1. 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 conemediated. The green rod-mediated ERF of an individual ganglion cell is always larger than the cone-mediated ERF of the same cell. The red rodmediated 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

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Optics and Visual Physiology

Carr¹

1968

Archives of Ophthalmology

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Visual adaptation of the rhodopsin rods in the frog's retina

Cited by 75 publications

References 43 publications

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

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

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

Optics and Visual Physiology

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