VISUAL ADAPTATION IN THE VERTEBRATE RETINA

我们的研究活动的总体目标是提供一个描述 的神经和光化学事件subserving视觉适应在 脊椎动物视网膜，并确定，在人类和动物，细胞起源 影响适应过程的异常 我们最初的目标是更好地 了解夜盲的病因 疾病，以及引起异常的功能缺陷， 视杆细胞介导的视觉 为实现这些目标而采取的办法 目标可以在三个标题下考虑：（1）研究 参与适应的生理过程;例如，漂白和 视紫红质的再生，受体和受体后机制， 调节视觉敏感度，以及突触事件的顺序， 实现信息传送。 (2)动物“模型”的研究 可能被证明与人类中发现的病理体征同源的病理体征 夜盲症 该计划的这一方面包括研究 利用灌注的眼用制剂详细分析 光化学和电生理学或相对离散的焦点区域 视网膜，并用于绘制功能丧失的视网膜分布。 （三） 视网膜神经元微环境的研究 提供有用诊断指标的视网膜电位源 视网膜异常 这一阶段的工作包括试图评估 K离子-神经胶质细胞相互作用在影响神经元敏感性中的作用，以及 在启动引起慢PIII和b波分量的电流时 视网膜电图

The overall objectives of our research activities are to provide a description of the neural and photochemical events subserving visual adaptation in the vertebrate retina, and to identify, in both man and animal, the cellular origins of abnormalities affecting the adaptive process. Our initial goal is a better understanding of the etiological factors responsible for night-blinding disorders, and of the functional defects that give rise to anomalies in rod-mediated vision. The approaches to be taken towards attaining these objectives can be considered under three headings: (1) Studies on the physiological processes that are involved in adaptation; e.g., the bleaching and regeneration of rhodopsin, the receptoral and post-receptoral mechanisms that regulate visual sensitivity, and the sequence of synaptic events by which information transfer is effected. (2) Studies of animal "models" exhibiting pathological signs that may prove to be homologous with those found in human night-blinding diseases. Included in this aspect of the program are researches utilizing the perfused eye preparation for detailed analysis of the photochemistry and electrophysiology or relatively discrete focal areas of the retina, and for mapping the retinal distribution of functional loss. (3) Studies on the microenvironment of the retinal neurons with particular reference to the sources of retinal potentials that provide useful diagnostic indicators of retinal abnormalities. This phase of the work includes attempts to assess the role of the K ion-glia interaction in influencing neuronal sensitivity, and in initiating the current that gives rise to the slow PIII and b-wave components of the electroretinogram.