Abstract
The photoreceptor cells of invertebrate animals differ from those of vertebrates in morphology and physiology. Our present knowledge of structure and transduction mechanism of the microvillar photoreceptor cell of invertebrates is described. Less than for vertebrates is known about the biochemistry of the enzyme cascade which leads in the invertebrate photoreceptor from the light-activated rhodopsin molecule to the formation of the excitatory intracellular transmitter. A GTP-binding protein is activated. The activity of phospholipase C., which catalyzes the formation of inositol-trisphosphate, is essential. The intracellular transmitter which binds to the cation channel to open it has not yet been identified; cGMP or Ca ions are suspects. The single-photon-evoked events, bumps, are assumed to be based on a light-induced concerted opening of many cation channels. The bumps vary greatly in delay, size and shape. The intensity dependence of the size of the macroscopic receptor current has a region of supralinear slope. The mechanisms of light/dark adaptation are better understood in photoreceptors of invertebrates than in those of vertebrates. Calcium is a desensitizing intracellular transmitter for light adaptation. cAMP is apparently another controller of sensitivity in dark adaptation.
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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York
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Stieve, H. (1990). Microvillar Photoreceptor Cells of Invertebrates. In: Borsellino, A., Cervetto, L., Torre, V. (eds) Sensory Transduction. NATO ASI Series, vol 194. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5841-1_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5841-1_8
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