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Article

From the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143

We investigated the modulation of cGMP-gated ion channels in single cone photoreceptors isolated from a fish retina. A new method allowed us to record currents from an intact outer segment while controlling its cytoplasmic composition by superfusion of the electropermeabilized inner segment. The sensitivity of the channels to agonists in the intact outer segment differs from that measured in membrane patches detached from the same cell. This sensitivity, measured as the ligand concentration necessary to activate half-maximal currents, K_1/2, also increases as Ca²⁺ concentration decreases. In electropermeabilized cones, K_1/2 for cGMP is 335.5 ± 64.4 µM in the presence of 20 µM Ca²⁺, and 84.3 ± 12.6 µM in its absence. For 8Br-cGMP, K_1/2 is 72.7 ± 11.3 µM in the presence of 20 µM Ca²⁺ and 15.3 ± 4.5 µM in its absence. The Ca²⁺-dependent change in agonist sensitivity is larger in extent than that measured in rods. In electropermeabilized tiger salamander rods, K_1/2 for 8Br-cGMP is 17.9 ± 3.8 µM in the presence of 20 µM Ca²⁺ and 7.2 ± 1.2 µM in its absence. The Ca²⁺-dependent modulation is reversible in intact cone outer segments, but is progressively lost in the absence of divalent cations, suggesting that it is mediated by a diffusible factor. Comparison of data in intact cells and detached membrane fragments from cones indicates that this factor is not calmodulin. At 40 µM 8Br-cGMP, the Ca²⁺-dependent change in sensitivity in cones is half-maximal at K_Ca = 286 ± 66 nM Ca²⁺. In rods, by contrast, K_Ca is 50 nM Ca²⁺. The difference in magnitude and Ca²⁺ dependence of channel modulation between photoreceptor types suggests that this modulation may play a more significant role in the regulation of photocurrent gain in cones than in rods.

Key Words: retina • phototransduction • teleost • cyclic nucleotides • light adaptation

Abbreviations: PDE, phosphodiesterase

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