Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:14:18.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The action spectra of cone photoreceptors in the turtle (Mauremys caspica) retina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Ido Perlman
Affiliation:
The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Science, Haifa, Israel
Aviran Itzhaki
Affiliation:
The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Science, Haifa, Israel
Shoshana Malik
Affiliation:
The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Science, Haifa, Israel
Mathew Alpern
Affiliation:
The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Science, Haifa, Israel

Abstract

Cone photoreceptors in the turtle retina are involved in intricate neuronal interactions with other retinal neurons that modify the responses of the cones to photons absorbed in their outer segments. Therefore, the action spectra of cones strongly depend upon the conditions of measurements. This study describes an attempt to derive the action spectra of turtle cones which are the least distorted by neuronal interactions. To achieve this goal, the photoresponses of cones and horizontal cells were recorded from the turtle retina under different conditions of adaptation using different patterns of the stimulating test flashes. The sensitivity action spectra, derived from small-amplitude (<1 mV) photoresponses, were strongly affected by the recording conditions indicating the contributions of multiple neuronal inputs. Action spectra, constructed from large criterion photoresponses, were less distorted by neuronal interactions and better described the spectral properties of the “isolated” cones. The action spectra of the hyperpolarizing inputs to chromaticity-type horizontal cells were derived by stimulating these cells with mixtures of a saturating red light and a monochromatic light of different wavelength and intensity. The action spectra were constructed from the intensity of the addend component needed to “pull down” the depolarizing response to the red component by a fixed criterion. These spectra, measured in red/green and yellow/blue C-type horizontal cells, are suggested to best represent the “isolated” M-cones and S-cones, respectively.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baylor, D.A. & Fuortes, M.G.F. (1970). Electric responses of single cones in the retina of the turtle. Journal of Physiology (London) 207, 7792.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baylor, D.A., Fuortes, M.G.F. & O’Bryan, P.M. (1971). Receptive fields of cones in the retina of the turtle. Journal of Physiology (London) 214, 265294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baylor, D.A. & Hodgkin, A.L. (1973). Detection and resolution of visual stimuli by turtle photoreceptors. Journal of Physiology (London) 234, 163198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baylor, D.A. & Hodgkin, A.L. (1974). Changes in time scale and sensitivity in turtle photoreceptors. Journal of Physiology (London) 242, 729758.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daly, S.J. & Normann, R.A. (1985). Temporal information processing in cones: Effects of light adaptation on temporal summation and modulation. Vision Research 25, 11971206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Detwiler, P.B. & Hodgkin, A.L. (1979). Electrical coupling between cones in turtle retina. Journal of Physiology (London) 291, 75100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebrey, T. & Honig, B. (1977). New wavelength-dependent visual pigment nomograms. Vision Research 17, 147151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuortes, M.G.F., Schwartz, E.A. & Simon, E.J. (1973). Colour dependence of cone responses in the turtle retina. Journal of Physiology (London) 234, 199216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuortes, M.G.F. & Simon, E.J. (1974). Interactions leading to horizontal cell responses in the turtle retina. Journal of Physiology (London) 240, 177198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Itzhaki, A., Malik, S. & Perlman, I. (1992). The spectral properties of short-wavelength (blue) cones in the turtle retina. Visual Neuroscience 9, 235241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Itzhaki, A. & Perlman, I. (1984). Light adaptation in luminosity horizontal cells in the turtle retina: Role of cellular coupling. Vision Research 24, 11191126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Itzhaki, A. & Perlman, I. (1987). Light adaptation of red cones and L–horizontal cells in the turtle retina: Effects of the background spatial pattern. Vision Research 27, 685696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolb, H. & Jones, J. (1982). Light and electron microscopy of the photoreceptors in the retina of the red-eared slider, Pseudemys scripta elegans. Journal of Comparative Neurology 209, 331338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolb, H. & Jones, J. (1985). Anatomic pathways for excitatory connections between red and green cones in the turtle retina. Journal of Neurophysiology 53, 304317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolb, H. & Jones, J. (1987). The distinction by light and electron microscopy of two types of cones containing colorless oil droplets in the turtle retina. Vision Research 27, 14451458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolb, H., Perlman, I. & Normann, R.A. (1988). Neural organization of the retina of the turtle Mauremys caspica: A light microscope and Golgi study. Visual Neuroscience 1, 4772.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liebman, P.A. & Granda, A.M. (1971). Microspectrophotometric measurements of visual pigments in two species of turtle, Pseudemys scripta elegans and Chelonia mydas. Vision Research 11, 105114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipetz, L.E. (1985). Some neuronal circuits of the turtle retina. In The Visual System, ed. Fein, A. & Levine, J.S., pp. 107132. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc.Google Scholar
Lipetz, L.E. & Macnichol, J.E.F. (1982). Photoreceptors of freshwater turtles: Cell types and visual pigments. Biological Bulletin 163, 396.Google Scholar
Naka, K.I. & Rushton, W.A.H. (1966 a). S-potentials from colour units in the retina of fish (Cyprinidae). Journal of Physiology (London) 185, 536555.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naka, K.I. & Rushton, W.A.H. (1966 b). An attempt to analyse colour perception by electrophysiology. Journal of Physiology (London) 185, 556586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Normann, R.A. & Anderton, P.J. (1983). The incremental sensitivity curve of turtle cone photoreceptors. Vision Research 23, 17311733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Normann, R.A. & Perlman, I. (1979 a). The effects of background illumination on the photoresponses of red and green cones. Journal of Physiology (London) 286, 491507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Normann, R.A. & Perlman, I. (1979 b). Signal transmission from red cones to horizontal cells in turtle retina. Journal of Physiology (London) 286, 509524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Normann, R.A., Perlman, I. & Daly, S.J. (1985). Mixing of color signals by turtle cone photoreceptors. Journal of Neurophysiology 54, 293303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Normann, R.A., Perlman, I., Kolb, H., Jones, J. & Daly, S.J. (1984). Direct excitatory interactions between cones of different spectral types in the turtle retina. Science 224, 625627.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Bryan, P.M. (1973). Properties of the depolarizing synaptic potential evoked by peripheral illumination in cones of the turtle retina. Journal of Physiology (London) 235, 207223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohtsuka, T. (1985 a). Relation of spectral types to oil droplets in cones of turtle retina. Science 229, 874877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohtsuka, T. (1985 b). Spectral sensitivities of seven morphological types of photoreceptors in the retina of the turtle (Geoclemys reevesii). Journal of Comparative Neurology 237, 145154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohtsuka, T. & Kouyama, N. (1986). Physiological and morphological studies of cone-horizontal cell connections in the turtle retina. Neuroscience Research (Suppl.) 4, S69–S84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perlman, I., Itzhaki, A. & Alpern, M. (1992). The field sensitivity action spectra of turtle (Mauremys caspica) cone photoreceptors. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (Suppl.) 33, 1327.Google Scholar
Perlman, I. & Normann, R.A. (1979). Short-wavelength input to luminosity-type horizontal cells in the turtle retina. Vision Research 19, 903906.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perlman, I., Normann, R.A., Itzhaki, A. & Daly, S.J. (1985). Chromatic and spatial information processing by red cones and L-type horizontal cells in the turtle retina. Vision Research 25, 543549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneeweis, D.M. (1991). Spectral and network properties of cones in the retina of Pseudemys scripta. Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Simon, E.J. (1973). Two types of luminosity horizontal cells in the retina of the turtle. Journal of Physiology (London) 230, 199211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolbarsht, M.L. (1976). The function of intraocular color filters. Federation Proceedings 35, 4450.Google ScholarPubMed