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The Early Receptor Potential

  • Chapter
Principles of Receptor Physiology

Part of the book series: Handbook of Sensory Physiology ((SENSORY,volume 1))

Abstract

Of all receptor molecules, visual pigments are the best characterized, yet the the problem of how a pigment molecule initiates an excitatory response in a photoreceptor is still unsolved. It is, however, well established that a photoreceptor can be excited by a single photon (Hecht et al., 1942), and also that the photon is absorbed by visual pigment molecules contained in dense, highly ordered membrane structures such as the rhabdomeres of invertebrate receptors and the outer segments of vertebrate receptors. Within these membrane structures, the pigment molecules are themselves highly ordered (Schmidt, 1938), and since visual pigments are lipoproteins and are major components of the membrane structures, it is likely that they are incorporated structurally in the membrane. (For a discussion of these characteristics, see Wald et al., 1963.) The central problem in the study of visual receptors, therefore, is to determine how a single visual pigment molecule, on absorbing a photon, can initiate an excitatory response. In an elegant series of experiments on squid photoreceptors, Hagins and coworkers (1965) have provided the clearest example of the role the molecule can play in the excitatory mechanism. In these receptors, the visual pigment initiates a transient change in the permeability of the cell membrane which permits sufficient ionic current to flow through the membrane to excite the receptor (Hagins, 1965). It appears likely that in most other photoreceptors the role of the pigment molecule is also to alter membrane permeability.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Baltimore, Md., USA

    Richard A. Cone

  2. Lafayette, Ind., USA

    William L. Pak

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  1. Richard A. Cone
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  2. William L. Pak
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, 10032, USA

    W. R. Loewenstein

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© 1971 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Cone, R.A., Pak, W.L. (1971). The Early Receptor Potential. In: Loewenstein, W.R. (eds) Principles of Receptor Physiology. Handbook of Sensory Physiology, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65063-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65063-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-65065-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-65063-5

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