VISUAL TRANSDUCTION IN PRIMATE PHOTORECEPTORS

我们建议研究分离视网膜中的视觉传导。 人类和猕猴。总体目标有两个： A)阐明支配光向神经转化的规律 信号，以及b)阐明这种转化的分子机制。 通过用单个感光细胞进行电子记录，我们将 回答以下问题： 1.人的杆子如何对光线做出反应并适应背景？何谓 它们的光谱敏感度？ 2.人类的光谱敏感性和反应特性是什么？ 蓝色的圆锥体？ 3.细胞内钙离子浓度变化的动力学是什么？ 灵长类的光感受器，这些变化是如何调节转导的？ 4.灵长类锥体色素的自发激活率是多少 黑暗？ 5.“红色”和“绿色”锥体的蛋白质通过什么机制 色素调节视网膜11顺式发色团的光吸收？ 6.这三种圆锥体颜料的感光性是什么？ 7.接受野内的锥体输入是如何组织的 灵长类动物视网膜中的神经节细胞？ 关于这些方面的信息将提高我们对人类视觉的理解 以及它在疾病中的干扰。

We propose to investigate visual transduction in isolated retinas from humans and the monkey Macaca fascicularis. The overall aims are twofold: a) to elucidate the laws that govern the conversion of light to neural signals, and b) to clarify the molecular mechanism of this conversion. By making electrical recordings from single photoreceptor cells we will approach the following questions: 1. How do human rods respond t light and adapt in backgrounds? What are their spectral sensitivities? 2. What are the spectral sensitivities and response properties of human blue cones? 3. What are the kinetics of changes in intracellular Ca++ concentration in primate photoreceptors, and how do these changes regulate transduction? 4. What is the rate of spontaneous activation of primate cone pigments in darkness? 5. By what mechanisms do the proteins of the "red" and "green" cone pigments regulate light absorption in the 11-cis retinal chromophore? 6. What are the photosensitivities of the three cone pigments? 7. What is the organization of the cone inputs within the receptive fields of ganglion cells in the primate retina? Information on these points will improve our understanding of human vision and its disturbances in disease.