Adaptations in rod outer segment disc membranes in response to environmental lighting conditions.

ABSTRACT: The light-sensing rod photoreceptor cell exhibits several adaptations in response to the lighting environment. While adaptations to short-term changes in lighting conditions have been examined in depth, adaptations to long-term changes in lighting conditions are less understood. Atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the structure of rod outer segment disc membranes, the site of photon absorption by the pigment rhodopsin, to better understand how photoreceptor cells respond to long-term lighting changes. Structural properties of the disc membrane changed in response to housing mice in constant dark or light conditions and these adaptive changes required output from the phototransduction cascade initiated by rhodopsin. Among these were changes in the packing density of rhodopsin i

SUBMITTER: Rakshit T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5581674 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature