VISUAL TRANSDUCTION IN PRIMATE PHOTORECEPTORS

我们建议在离体视网膜中研究视觉传导， 人类和食蟹猴。 总的目标有两个： a）阐明支配光向神经转化的规律 信号，和B）阐明这种转化的分子机制。 通过对单个感光细胞进行电子记录， 探讨以下问题： 1. 人类的视杆细胞如何对光线做出反应并适应背景？ 是什么 它们的光谱灵敏度 2. 人体的光谱敏感度和响应特性是什么 蓝色圆锥形？ 3. 细胞内Ca++浓度变化的动力学是什么？ 灵长类光感受器，以及这些变化如何调节信号转导？ 4. 灵长类动物视锥色素的自发激活率是多少？ 黑暗？ 5. “红”和“绿色”视锥细胞的蛋白质是通过什么机制 色素调节11-顺式视网膜发色团的光吸收？ 6. 三种锥状色素的感光性是什么？ 7. 感受野内的视锥细胞输入的组织是什么 灵长类动物视网膜神经节细胞的数量 关于这些点的信息将提高我们对人类视觉的理解 以及它对疾病的干扰。

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.