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Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Preparation of Living Isolated Vertebrate Photoreceptor Cells for Fluorescence Imaging
Published on: June 22, 2011
Biochemical mechanism of light adaptation in vertebrate photoreceptors
1Institut für Biologische Informationsverarbeitung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.
Abstract:
Vertebrate photoreceptors can adjust their sensitivity to a wide range of light intensities spanning several orders of magnitude, the phenomenon of which is called light adaptation. Electrophysiological and biochemical studies have revealed that calcium can serve as an intracellular transmitter of light adaptation under the control of cGMP metabolism. After illumination, the cytoplasmic calcium concentration of a photoreceptor decreases, which in turn strongly activates photoreceptor guanylate cyclase. This calcium-dependent effect is mediated by a novel calcium-binding protein (recoverin) and leads to the restoration of the depleted cGMP pool after illumination.
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