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Light responses of mammalian cones

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Abstract

Cone photoreceptors provide the foundation of most of human visual experience, but because they are smaller and less numerous than rods in most mammalian retinas, much less is known about their physiology. We describe new techniques and approaches which are helping to provide a better understanding of cone function. We focus on several outstanding issues, including the identification of the features of the phototransduction cascade that are responsible for the more rapid kinetics and decreased sensitivity of the cone response, the roles of inner-segment voltage-gated and Ca2+-activated channels, the means by which cones remain responsive even in the brightest illumination, mechanisms of cone visual pigment regeneration in constant light, and energy consumption of cones in comparison to that of rods.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Margery J. Fain for drawing Figure 3 and for changing fonts in some of the figures from uppercase to lowercase to meet the requirements of the journal, and to Simon Laughlin for his thorough and helpful reading of an earlier draft of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by NEI R01 EY01844 to G.L.F., and NEI R01 EY29817 to A.P.S., an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness USA to the UCLA Department of Ophthalmology, and NEI Core Grant EY00311 to the Stein Eye Institute.

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  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-7000, USA

    Gordon L. Fain & Alapakkam P. Sampath

  2. Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-7239, USA

    Gordon L. Fain

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This article is published as part of the Special Issue on Function and Dysfunction in Vertebrate Photoreceptor Cells

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Fain, G.L., Sampath, A.P. Light responses of mammalian cones. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 473, 1555–1568 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-021-02551-0

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