Structure and function of photoreceptors

Photopigments

The photopigments that absorb light all have a similar structure, which consists of a protein called an opsin and a small attached molecule known as the chromophore. The chromophore absorbs photons of light, using a mechanism that involves a change in its configuration. In vertebrate rods the chromophore is retinal, the aldehyde of vitamin A₁. When retinal absorbs a photon, the double bond between the 11th and 12th carbon atoms flips, thus reconfiguring the molecule from the 11-cis to the all-trans form. This in turn triggers a molecular transduction cascade, resulting in the closure of sodium channels in the membrane and hyperpolarization (increase in negativity) of the cell. Retinal then detaches from opsin, is regenerated to the 11-cis state in the cells of the pigment epithelium that surround the rods, and is reattached to an opsin molecule. In most invertebrate photoreceptors the chromophore does not detach from opsin but is regenerated in situ, usually by the absorption of a photon with a wavelength different from the stimulating wavelength.

The opsin molecules themselves each consist of seven helices that cross the disk membrane and surround the chromophore. Humans have four different opsins. One type is found in rods and is responsible for low-light vision, and three types are found in cones and subserve colour vision by responding to blue, green, and red wavelengths. The differences in the amino acid compositions of the opsins have the effect of altering the charge environment around the chromophore group, which in turn shifts the wavelength to the photopigment that is maximally sensitive. Thus, in humans the rods are most sensitive to light in the blue-green spectrum (peak wavelength 496 nm), and the cones are most sensitive to light in the blue (419 nm), green (531 nm), and yellow-green (or red; 558 nm) spectra. The cones are often designated as short (S), medium (M), and long (L) wavelength cones.

Most perceived colours are interpreted by the brain from a ratio of excitation in different cone types. The fact that the spectral sensitivity maxima of the M and L cones are very close together reveals an interesting evolutionary history. Most fish and birds have four or even five cone types with different spectral sensitivities, including sensitivity in the ultraviolet. In contrast, most mammals have only two—an S cone for blue wavelengths and an L cone for red wavelengths. Thus, these mammals have dichromatic vision, and they are red-green colour-blind. The relative poverty of the mammalian colour system is probably due to the way that the early mammals survived the age of reptiles by adopting a nocturnal and even subterranean way of life in which colour vision was impossible. However, about 63 million years ago a mutation in the genotype of the Old World primates resulted in the duplication of the gene for the long-wavelength opsin, which provided another channel for a trichromatic colour vision system. The red-green system of M and L cones enabled primates to distinguish particular elements in their environment—for example, the ripeness of fruit in the tropical woodlands that the early primates inhabited.

Retinal is not the only chromophore of rhodopsins; for example, vertebrates have another chromophore, 3-dehydroretinal, which gives rise to a family of photopigments known as porphyropsins. Relative to retinal-based pigments with the same opsin, the spectral sensitivity of porphyropsins is shifted about 30 nm toward the red end of the spectrum. Other chromophores include 3-hydroxyretinal, which is present in some insects and produces a photopigment known as xanthopsin, and 4-hydroxyretinal, which is present in the firefly squid (Watasenia). Firefly squid appear to have a colour vision system that is based on photopigments with the same opsin but with three different chromophores. In most other colour vision systems (including all the visual pigments in humans), the chromophore stays the same, and spectral tuning is achieved by varying the amino acid composition of the opsins.

Neural transmission

All vertebrates have complex retinas with five layers, first described in detail by Spanish histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal in the 1890s. There are three layers of cells on the pathway from the photoreceptors to the optic nerve. These are the photoreceptors themselves at the rear of the retina, the bipolar cells, and finally the ganglion cells, whose axons make up the optic nerve. Forming a network between the photoreceptors and the bipolar cells are the horizontal cells (the outer plexiform layer), and between the bipolar cells and the ganglion cells, there exists a similar layer (the inner plexiform layer) containing amacrine cells of many different kinds. A great deal of complex processing occurs within the two plexiform layers. The main function of the horizontal cells is to vary the extent of coupling between photoreceptors and between photoreceptors and bipolar cells. This provides a control system that keeps the activity of the bipolar cells within limits, regardless of fluctuations in the intensity of light reaching the receptors. This control process also enhances contrast, thus emphasizing the differences between photoreceptor outputs.

The bipolar cells are of two kinds—“on” and “off”—responding to either an increase or a decrease in local light intensity. The roles of the amacrine cells are less clear, but they contribute to the organization of the receptive fields of the ganglion cells. These fields are the areas of retina over which the cells respond. Typically, receptive fields have a concentric structure made up of a central region surrounded by an annular ring, with the central and annular areas having opposite properties. Thus, some ganglion cells are of the “on-centre/off-surround” type, and others are of the “off-centre/on-surround” type. In practical terms, this means that a small contrasting object crossing the receptive field centre will stimulate the cell strongly, but a larger object, or an overall change in light intensity, will not stimulate the cell, because the effects of the centre region and annular ring cancel one another. Thus, ganglion cells are detectors of local contrast rather than light intensity. Many ganglion cells in primates also show colour opponency—for example, responding to “red-on/green-off” or “blue-on/yellow-off” and signaling information about the wavelength structure of the image. Thus, in the stages of processing an image, the components of contrast, change, and movement appear to be the most biologically important.

In the vertebrate retina a series of biochemical stages convert the isomerization of the retinal of the rhodopsin molecule (from 11-cis to all trans) into an electrical signal. Within about one millisecond of photon absorption, the altered rhodopsin molecule becomes excited, causing activation of a heterotrimeric G-protein (guanine nucleotide binding protein) called transducin. G-proteins act as mediators of cell signaling pathways that involve relay signaling molecules called second messengers. In the case of rhodopsin excitation, transducin activates an enzyme called phosphodiesterase, which cleaves a second messenger known as cGMP (3′5′-cyclic guanosine monophosphate) into 5′GMP. This process reduces the amount of cGMP in the cell.

In dark conditions, cGMP binds to sodium channels in the cell membrane, keeping the channels open and allowing sodium ions to enter the cell continuously. The constant influx of positive sodium ions maintains the cell in a somewhat depolarized (weakly negative) state. In light conditions, cGMP does not bind to the channels, which allows some sodium channels to close and cuts off the inward flow of sodium ions. The reduction in influx of sodium ions causes the cell to become hyperpolarized (strongly negative). Thus, the electrical effect of a photon of light is to cause a short-lived negative potential in the photoreceptor. Bright light produces more rhodopsin isomerizations, further decreasing cGMP levels and enabling hyperpolarization to be graded with light intensity. The electrical signal produced by light reaches the base of the inner segment of the receptor, where a neuronal synapse releases vesicles of neurotransmitter (in this case glutamate) in proportion to voltage in the receptor. In humans and other vertebrates, neurotransmitter release occurs in the dark (when the photoreceptor plasma membrane is depolarized). In the presence of light, however, the cell becomes hyperpolarized, and neurotransmitter release is inhibited.

In invertebrate eyes the electrical response to light is different. The majority of invertebrate eyes have microvillus receptors that depolarize (become less negative) when illuminated—the opposite of the response in vertebrate receptors. The depolarization is brought about by the entry of sodium and calcium ions that results from the opening of membrane channels. The biochemistry of the transducer pathway is not entirely clear; some proposed models envision a somewhat different pathway from that in vertebrates. Rhodopsin isomerization activates a G-protein, which in turn activates an enzyme called phospholipase C (PLC). PLC catalyzes the production of an intracellular second messenger known as IP3 (inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate), which stimulates the release of calcium from intracellular stores in certain organelles. It is not entirely clear what causes the membrane channels to open; however, there is evidence that calcium plays a major role in this process. In contrast to other invertebrates, the “off”-responding distal receptors of the scallop retina work by a different mechanism. They hyperpolarize to light (similar to vertebrate receptors) by closing sodium channels, which also results in the simultaneous release of potassium ions from cells.