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Transduction in Biological Systems pp 47–58Cite as

The cGMP-Gated Channels of Rod and Cone Photoreceptors

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Abstract

Light generates a hyperpolarizing response in retinal photoreceptors by stopping a steady inward current (the dark current) that is present at their outer segments in darkness.(1–3) The mechanism underlying this phototransduction process has been a subject of intense interest and controversy for many years, and is only now becoming fairly clear. The present picture for rods(4–6) is that upon absorbing a photon a visual pigment molecule isomerizes and catalytically activates a GTP-binding protein (also called G-protein) that is bound peripherally to disk membranes within the outer segment. The activated G-protein in turn stimulates a phosphodiesterase that hydrolyzes cGMP, a cyclic nucleotide known to be present at a high concentration in the outer segment. In darkness, this high cGMP level maintains a plasma membrane cationic conductance (the light-regulated conductance) in the open state, thus sustaining the dark current. In the light, the fall in the cGMP level leads to the closure of this conductance, and therefore the cessation of the dark current. This picture for phototransduction in rods now seems to apply to cones as well,(7) despite their different surface membrane geometries.

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Author notes

  1. Lawrence W. Haynes

    Present address: Department of Medical Physiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, USA

    Lawrence W. Haynes & King-Wai Yau

Authors
  1. Lawrence W. Haynes
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  2. King-Wai Yau
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Estudios Científicos de Santiago, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Cecilia Hidalgo  & Enrique Jaimovich  & 

  2. Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Juan Bacigalupo

  3. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Julio Vergara

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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York

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Haynes, L.W., Yau, KW. (1990). The cGMP-Gated Channels of Rod and Cone Photoreceptors. In: Hidalgo, C., Bacigalupo, J., Jaimovich, E., Vergara, J. (eds) Transduction in Biological Systems. Series of the Centro de Estudios Científicos de Santiago. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5736-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5736-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5738-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5736-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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