Photon-like signals following weak rhodopsin bleaches

Abstract

The rod visual system in its dark-adapted state behaves as a near-ideal light detector¹. Psychophysical studies on the reliability of light detection in man^2,3, analysis of the dark noise in rod bipolar cells⁴ and observation of photon-like events in rods⁵ in the dark suggest that the visual pigment, rhodopsin, is very stable against spontaneous isomerization. When a light which bleaches a small fraction of the rhodopsin is extinguished, the visual threshold may be increased by several orders of magnitude. The eye is then ‘light-adapted’ and the process (or processes) by which the sensitivity returns constitutes dark adaptation. We report here that bleaching of a small fraction of the rhodopsin produces a prolonged increase in the noise observed in the dark in rod bipolar cells of the dogfish retina. The associated noise events are similar to those produced by the absorption of light quanta and presumably have their origin in the rods which transmit their signals to the bipolar cells. This increased noise after bleaching would decrease the reliability of detection of light quanta and contribute to the elevation of visual threshold.