Intact photoreceptor membrane from bovine rod outer segment: size and shape in bleached state

Photoreceptor disk membranes isolated from bovine rod outer segments are suspended in dilute aqueous sucrose (4.36 X 10(-3%)) and bleached, and their size and shape are determined with quasielastic and elastic light scattering. They are found to be extremely homogeneous spherical vesicles with a radius of 0.49 +/- 0.07 mum which appear to have derived from the native disk shape by osmotic swelling.