The Journal of General Physiology
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published online Aug 29 2005. doi:10.1085/jgp.200509342
The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1295 $8.00
JGP, Volume 126, Number 3, 263-269
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 137K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JGP
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Luo, D.-G.
Right arrow Articles by Yau, K.-W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Luo, D.-G.
Right arrow Articles by Yau, K.-W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

 Rod Sensitivity of Neonatal Mouse and Rat

Dong-Gen Luo1 and King-Wai Yau1,2

1 Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
2 Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205

Correspondence to King-Wai Yau: kwyau{at}mail.jhmi.edu

We have measured the sensitivity of rod photoreceptors isolated from overnight dark–adapted mice of age P12 (neonate) through P45 (adult) with suction-pipette recording. During this age period, the dark current increased roughly in direct proportion to the length of the rod outer segment. In the same period, the flash sensitivity of rods (reciprocal of the half-saturating flash intensity) increased by ~1.5-fold. This slight developmental change in sensitivity was not accentuated by dark adapting the animal for just 1 h or by increasing the ambient luminance by sixfold during the prior light exposure. The same small, age-dependent change in rod sensitivity was found with rat. After preincubation of the isolated retina with 9-cis-retinal, neonatal mouse rods showed the same sensitivity as adult rods, suggesting the presence of a small amount of free opsin being responsible for their lower sensitivity. The sensitivity of neonate rods could also be increased to the adult level by dark adapting the animal continuously for several days. By comparing the sensitivity of neonate rods in darkness to that of adult rods after light bleaches, we estimated that ~1% of rod opsin in neonatal mouse was devoid of chromophore even after overnight dark adaptation. Overall, we were unable to confirm a previous report that a 50-fold difference in rod sensitivity existed between neonatal and adult rats.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Biol. Chem.Home page
W. Baehr, S. Karan, T. Maeda, D.-G. Luo, S. Li, J. D. Bronson, C. B. Watt, K.-W. Yau, J. M. Frederick, and K. Palczewski
The Function of Guanylate Cyclase 1 and Guanylate Cyclase 2 in Rod and Cone Photoreceptors
J. Biol. Chem., March 23, 2007; 282(12): 8837 - 8847.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 IOVSHome page
K. Liu, J. D. Akula, R. M. Hansen, A. Moskowitz, M. S. Kleinman, and A. B. Fulton
Development of the Electroretinographic Oscillatory Potentials in Normal and ROP Rats
Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., December 1, 2006; 47(12): 5447 - 5452.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents