Hostname: page-component-599cfd5f84-96rnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T08:28:42.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence of rod adaptation upon cone responses to light offset in humans: I. Results in normal observers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Thomas E. Frumkes ,
Gudrun Lange ,
Noreen Denny  and
Iwona Beczkowska
Thomas E. Frumkes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Gudrun Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Noreen Denny
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Iwona Beczkowska
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dark-adapted rods exert a tonic suppressive influence upon cone-mediated sensitivity to rapid flicker, a phenomenon called suppressive rod-cone interaction (SRC1). However, rod dark adaptation has negligible influence upon cone-mediated thresholds measured with more usual psychophysical procedures. The present study separately examined the influences of rod light and dark adaptation upon cone-mediated sensitivity to transient increases or decreases in illumination using sawtooth flicker with rapid-on (ramp-off) or rapid-off (ramp-on) waveforms. In the parafoveal retina, cones alone were stimulated with flicker by spatially superimposing longand short-wavelength stimuli presented in counterphase and matched in scotopic illuminance. Several different adaptation procedures were used. For higher (>4 Hz) frequencies, sensitivity of cones to both waveforms is nearly identical under any condition of adaptation; sensitivity decreases as rods progressively dark adapt. A considerably different situation exists for slower frequencies (1–4 Hz). Sensitivity of cones to rapid-off flicker is appreciably greater under light-adapted conditions confirming recent observations by Bowen et al. (1989). But as rods progressively dark adapt, sensitivity of cones to rapid-off waveforms decreases considerably while sensitivity to rapid-on waveforms is much less affected; in the totally dark-adapted eye, sensitivity to both waveforms is identical. These results confirm and extend recent physiological observations in amphibian retina (Frumkes & Wu, 1990) suggesting that SRCI specifically involves responses to transient decreases in illumination.

Keywords

Rod-cone interactionDark adaptationLight adaptation
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , February 1992 , pp. 83 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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

Alexander, K.R. & Fishman, G.A. (1984). Rod-cone interaction in flicker perimetry. British Journal of Ophthalmology 68, 303–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alexander, K.R. & Fishman, G.A. (1985). Rod-cone interaction in flicker perimetry: evidence for a distal retinal locus. Documenta Ophthalmologica 60, 3–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arden, G.B. & Frumkes, T.E. (1986). Stimulation of rods can increase cone flicker ERGs in man. Vision Research 26, 711–721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arden, G.B. & Hogg, C.R. (1985 a). A new cause for difficulty in seeing at night. Documenta Ophthalmologica 60, 121–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arden, G.B. & Hogg, C.R. (1985 b). Rod-cone interactions and analysis of retinal disease. British Journal of Ophthalmology 69, 405–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauer, G.M., Frumkes, T.E. & Nygaard, R.W. (1983). The signal-to-noise characteristics of rod-cone interaction. Journal of Physiology 337, 101–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowen, R.W., Pokorny, J. & Smith, V.C. (1989). Sawtooth contrast sensitivity: decrements have the edge. Vision Research 29, 1501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coletta, N. J. & Adams, A.J. (1984). Rod-cone interaction in flicker detection. Vision Research 24, 1330–1340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Copenhagen, D.R., Ashmore, J.F. & Schnapf, J.K. (1983). Kinetics of synaptic transmission from photoreceptors to horizontal and bipolar cells in turtle retina. Vision Research 23, 363–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daw, N.W., Jensen, R.J. & Brunken, W.J. (1990). Rod pathways in mammalian retinae. Trends in Neurosciences 13, 110–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Lange, H. (1954). Relationship between critical flicker frequency and a set of low-frequency characteristics of the eye. Journal of the Optical Society of America 44, 380–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denny, N., Frumkes, T.E., Beczkowska, I. & Lange, G. (1989). Rod-Stimulating Backgrounds Selectively Enhance Cone-Mediated Response To Light Offset. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 30, 455.Google Scholar
Eysteinsson, T. & Frumkes, T.E. (1985). Rod suppression of cones and achromatic cone pathways in amphibian retina. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 11, 476.Google Scholar
Eysteinsson, T. & Frumkes, T.E. (1989). Physiological and pharmacological analysis of suppressive rod-cone interaction in Necturus retina. Journal of Neurophysiology 61, 866–873.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frumkes, T.E. (1991). Suppressive rod-cone interaction. In Clinical Visual Electrophysiology, ed. Arden, G.B. & Heckenlively, J.R. (pp. 469–474). St.Louis: Mosby.Google Scholar
Frumkes, T.E., Coleman, P.A. & Nicotera, N. (1981). Response of mudpuppy retinal neurons to sinusoidal flicker. Journal of the Optical Society of America 71, 1633.Google Scholar
Frumkes, T.E. & Eysteinsson, T. (1987). Suppressive rod-cone interaction in distal vertebrate retina: Intracellular records from Xenopus and Necturus. Journal of Neurophysiology 57, 1361–1383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frumkes, T.E. & Eysteinsson, T. (1988). The cellular basis for suppressive rod-cone interaction. Visual Neuroscience 1, 263–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frumkes, T.E. & Miller, R.F. (1979). Pathways and polarities of synaptic interactions in the inner retina of the mudpuppy: II. Insight revealed by an analysis of latency and threshold. Brain Research 161, 13–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frumkes, T.E., Naarendorp, F. & Goldberg, S.H. (1986). The influence of cone stimulation upon flicker sensitivity mediated by adjacent rods. Vision Research 26, 1167–1176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkes, T.E., Sliwinski, M., Denny, N. & Eysteinsson, T. (1988). Nonlinear photoreceptor properties influence flicker sensitivity: intracellular and psychophysical analysis. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 14, 160.Google Scholar
Frumkes, T.E. & Wu, S.M. (1990). Independent influences of rod adaptation on cone-mediated responses to light onset and offset in distal retinal neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 64, 1043–1054.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, S.H., Frumkes, T.E. & Nygaard, R.W. (1983). Inhibitory influence of unstimulated rods in the human retina: evidence provided by examining cone flicker. Science 111, 180–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guenther, E. & Zrenner, E. (1989). Sensitization of retinal ganglion cells by dim backgrounds: evidence for rod-cone interaction. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 5, 69.Google Scholar
Hartline, H.K. (1938). The response of single optic nerve fibers of the vertebrate eye to illumination of the retina. American Journal of Physiology 121, 400–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, H.E. (1922). Critical frequency relations in scotopic vision. Journal of the Optical Society of America 6, 254–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, D.H. (1961). Visual responses to time-dependent stimuli. I. Amplitude sensitivity measurement. Journal of the Optical Society of America 51, 422–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lange, G. & Frumkes, T.E. (1992). Influence of rod adaptation upon cone responses to light offset in humans: II. Results in an observer with exaggerated suppressive rod-cone interaction. Visual Neuroscience 8, 91–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luckiesh, M. (1914). On the growth and decay of color sensations in flicker photometry. Physical Review 4, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R. (1973). A comparison of electrical properties of neurons in Necturus retina. Journal of Neurophysiology 36, 519–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, R., Pflug, R. & Baer, S.M. (1990). Background-induced flicker-enhancement in cat retinal horizontal cells. II. Spatial properties. Journal of Neurophysiology 64, 326–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nygaard, R.W. & Frumkes, T.E. (1982). Calibration of the retinal illuminance provided by Maxwellian view. Vision Research 22, 433–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nygaard, R.W. & Frumkes, T.E. (1985). Frequency dependence in scotopic flicker sensitivity. Vision Research 25, 115–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pflug, R., Nelson, R. & Ahnelt, P.K. (1990). Background-induced flicker-enhancement in cat retinal horizontal cells. I. Temporal and spectral properties. Journal of Neurophysiology 64, 313–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ronchi, L. & Bittini, M. (1957). On the influence of the shape of equal energy light pulses on the critical flicker frequency. Atti delta Fondation Giorgio Ronchi 12, 173–179.Google Scholar
Schultze, M. (1866). Zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Retina. Archiv fur Mikroskopische Anatomie 2, 175–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, S. & Witkovsky, P. (1984). The actions of Gamma aminobutyric acid, glycine, and their antagonists upon horizontal cells of the Xenopus retina. Journal of Physiology 353, 249–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Witkovsky, P., Stone, S. & Tranchina, D. (1989). Photoreceptor to horizontal cell synaptic transfer in the Xenopus retina: modulation by dopamine ligands and a circuit model for interactions of rod and cone inputs. Journal of Neurophysiology 62, 864–881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wysecki, G. & Stiles, W.S. (1967). Color Science. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Yang, X. & Wu, S. (1989 a). Effects of background illumination on the horizontal cell responses in the tiger salamander retina. Journal of Neuroscience 9, 815–827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, X. & Wu, S. (1989 b). Effects of CNQX, APB, PDA, and kynurenate on horizontal cells of the tiger salamander retina. Visual Neuroscience 3, 207–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed