Thermal activation of the visual transduction mechanism in retinal rods
Thermal activation of the visual transduction mechanism in retinal rods
复制标题
视网膜视杆细胞视觉传导机制的热激活
作者：
K. Yau;G. Matthews;D. Baylor
INVERTEBRATE photoreceptors show electrical changes which apparently result from isomerisation of single rhodopsin molecules by light or thermal energy1–3. Observation of corresponding phenomena in vertebrates has been prevented by intercellular electrical coupling, which averages membrane potential over many photoreceptors4–6. Recently, however, recordings of membrane current from individual rod outer segments have revealed responses to single photons7,8. Here we report that similar electrical events occasionally occur in darkness, perhaps because of thermal isomerisation of rhodopsin.
