[The enzymology of visual reception: phosphodiesterase cascade of signal amplification]

According to present-day concepts an important and, presumably, a key role in signal transmission in photoreceptor cells is ascribed to a system containing the photosensitive protein rhodopsin, GTP-binding protein transducin and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase which in many features is similar to the adenylate cyclase system from other eukaryotic cells. The experimental and literary data concerning the already established and hypothetical mechanisms of transmission, enhancement and switch-off of the signal in the rhodopsin----transducin----phosphodiesterase chain are reviewed.