Abstract
Two genetically engineered strains of mice were used to characterize murine cone function electroretinographically, without interference of rod-driven responses: (1) mice with a deletion of the gene for the rod transducin α-subunit (transducin α-/-), and (2) mice with rod arrestin deleted (arrestin -/-). In the first three months of age, both strains have a normal complement of rods and normal rod structure, but transducin α-/- mice have no rod-driven responses to light, while rod-driven activity of arrestin -/- mice can be suppressed by a single intense flash for hours. In response to intense flashes the electroretinograms of these strains of mice showed a readily identifiable, pure-cone a-wave of ∼10 μV saturating amplitude. A 530 nm background that saturates rod responses of wild type mice was found to desensitize the b-wave responses of mice of both transgenic lines, whether the b-waves were driven by photons captured by M- or UV-cone pigments. The desensitizing effect of the 530 nm background on UV-pigment driven responses provides new evidence in support of the hypothesis of functional co-expression of the M-pigment in cones expressing primarily the UV-pigment.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 401-415 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Vision Research |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Arrestin
- Light adaptation
- Phototransduction
- Transducin
- Transgenic mice
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ophthalmology
- Sensory Systems