Primary Events in Vision.
Abstract
This report focuses on the fundamental mechanisms by which light energy is converted into a neural response in visual photoreceptor cells. Research in this area has approached the stage that permits the piecing together the molecular mechanisms between absorption of light and the generation of a neural response. Consideration is given to the primary molecule of visual photoreception--rhodopsin. The molecule is composed of a form of vitamine A which is called retinal, and this form of vitamin A is connected through a Shiff base-nitrogen linkage to a membrane glycoprotein matrix called opsin. The combination of retinal and opsin is called rhodopsin. The question of light absorption by rhodospin is discussed. It has been generally accepted that retinal interaction indeed undergoes structural alteration between rhodopsin and bathorhodopsin. A new aspect represented by the above mechanism is a movement of the proton in the protein. Measurements indicated that, as a result of the absorption of light, one of the first molecular events is the motion of a proton, and this is probably the first ion movement that is initiated by the rhodopsin molecule. Other experiments, are showing that there are several other chemical species activated by the absorption of light in the rhodopsin molecules.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 27, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA095369
Entities
People
- Aaron Lewis
Organizations
- Cornell University