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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Determination of Photoreceptor Cell Spectral Sensitivity in an Insect Model from In Vivo Intracellular Recordings
Published on: February 26, 2016
Do hummingbirds see in ultraviolet?
1Departamento de Física y Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile.
Abstract:
We present a numerical model to fit the electroretinogram (ERG), a gross evoked eye visual potential, that originate in the retina through photons absorption by photoreceptors and then involve the contribution form others retinal neurons. We use the ERG measured in a hummingbird, to evaluate the most likely retinal mechanism - cones visual pigments and oil-droplets - that participate in their high dimensional tetra or pentachromatic color hyperspace. The model - a nonlinear fit - appears to be a very useful tool to predict the underlying contribution visual mechanism for a variety of retinal preparation.
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