Difference in physiology of rods

and cones
• Rods are specialized for low-light vision.
• They are extremely sensitive and can signal
the absorption of single photons.
• Cones mediate daylight vision.
• They are much less sensitive to light than
rods, but have higher temporal resolution.
• The presence of typically more than one type
of cones in the retina mediates color vision.
 Phototransduction is the process by which light
triggers an electrical signal in a photoreceptor cell

• In rods, a photon is absorbed by the visual

pigment, rhodopsin.
• Rhodopsin is composed of a chromophore, 11-cis
retinal and a protein moiety, opsin.
• One of several bleaching intermediates is
metarhodopsin II denoted by R’ thereafter
• R’ activates GTP binding protein Transducin
• Activated transducin activates enzyme cGMP PDE
that hydrolyzes cGMP.
Phototransduction cascade in carp rods and
cones
• Homogenates of purified rods and cones
• The efficiency to produce R’ by a photon and the hydrolytic activity of PDE
have been reported to be similar between rods and cones.
• The overall amplification of a single photon signal was about 250 times less
efficient in our cone preparation compared with our rod preparation
• In the reactions leading to the activation of PDE from R’
 A single molecule of R’ activated transducin at the rate of 54 molecules/s in
rods.
 In cones, the activation terminated within a few seconds after a light flash
and was too fast to measure, so that we could not determine the actual rate
of transducin activation in cones. However, our best estimate was that the
transducin activation by a single molecule of R’ was N2 molecules
• From these measurements, we estimated that the transducin activation in
cones is b30-fold less effective in cones. As described above, the overall
efficiency from formation of R⁎ to PDE activationwas 250 times less effective
in cones and, therefore, we calculated that the efficiency of PDE activation by
transducin is N10-fold less effective in cones. Because the activation of
transducin completes too fast to measure, rapid time course measurement is
required to estimate the rate of transducin activation in cones accurately.
• R’ is phosphorylated by visual pigment kinase, GRK1 in rods.
• Visual pigment kinase, GRK7 is expressed in carp cones.
• In mice,GRK1 is expressed in cones instead of GRK7
• Both GRK1 and GRK are expressed in monkey and human cones

• we measured the early time course of R’ phosphorylation in cone.

• The rate of phosphorylation was about 5 phosphates incorporated
per molecule of R’/s in cones
• This rate was 50 times higher than that in rods where 0.09
phosphates were incorporated per R’/s.
• The time course of R’ phosphorylation is a function of light
intensity: the more R’ is formed, the slower the phosphorylation
time course is.
• It is due to an intrinsic nature of an enzyme reaction
 Rods and cones were mechanically dissociated from the carp retina by
tapping the photoreceptor side of the retina with a paint brush in complete
darkness with the aid of an infrared image converter .
The obtained mixture of rods and cones was layered at the top of a stepwise
Percoll density gradient.
After centrifugation, rods sedimented at the 45/60% interface and cones
sedimented at the 70/90% interface were collected
• Rhodopsin
 Differences of phototransduction efficiencies In rods & cones

The difference in the light sensitivity between rods & cones

depends on

• Amplification of rods & cons.

• Termination of response in rods & cons.

 To express the efficiency of the reaction from photon
capture to the closure of the cGMP-gated channels

• Time course of a flash response.

• Amplification in the phototransduction cascade (amplification

constant).

Light sensitivity is much lower in cones so amplification

constant must be small in cones but it is larger.
 Amplification in tiger salamandent cones

• Amplification constant is fractional amplitude of a flesh

response per photon absorbed by photoreceptor cell.

• Smaller the cell is, the higher is amplification constant is so

the constant is inversely related to the volume of the outer
segment.
• Cell volume of tiger salamander red sensitive cone is 30 times
smaller than that of its rod.
• The amplification constant in red sensitive cones was . 0.24
s−2 while in rods .050 s−2.
• The activation efficiency is compared in the same cell volume,
efficiency is .050 s−2 in rods and 0.008 s−2 in cones.
R

• Phototransduction efficiency in cones is 6 time smaller in

cones.
• Conclusion differ from biochemical results in which the
efficiency is 250 times slower in red sensitive cones than rods.
• Sensitivity difference between rods & cons is 15 times in tiger
salamander but in case of carp, it is 360 time.
• By giving a light flash we calibrate the intensity of our light
flash by measuring the bleaching levels of visual pigment in
our purified rods or cones.
Amplification in carp rods & cones
Characteristics of carp rods and cones. (A) A mechanically
dissociated carp rod (left) and a red-sensitive cone (right).
Both consist of two parts, outer segment and inner segment.
(B) A flash response family of a rod. Outer segment
membrane current
was recorded with a suction electrode by giving light flashes
of various intensities at time 0. The light intensities used and
expressed in the unit of % bleach (C) A flash response family
of a red sensitive cone. The light intensities used and
expressed in the unit of % bleach (D) Light intensity–
response relations of a rod (left) and a red-sensitive cone
(right) shown in (B) and (C) respectively.
• Amplification constant for two rods 1.3±0.2 s−2.
• The constants determined from cones flesh responses varied
depending on the light intensity because of high cone
membrane capacitance that slows down the course of a cone
flesh response.
• flash responses measured in two carp red-sensitive cones, we
estimated the amplification constant to be 0.064±0.002 s−2
Determination of amplification constants in rods and cones in
carp. Rod (A) and cone (B) flash responses were fitted at the
rising phase of a response In (A), the determined amplification
constants were 0.56 s−2,1.14 s−2, 1.15 s−2, 2.1 s−2 and 2.0
s−2, respectively, from the dimmest intensity. Responses were
fitted at the ranges shown by dotted lines. In (B), the
determined amplification constants were 0.091 s−2, 0.050 s−2,
0.024 s−2 and 0.002 s−2, respectively, from the dimmest
intensity (dotted lines).
• Amplification was about 20 fold(1.3/0.064)less in cones than
in rods in carp larger than in tiger salamander.
• But Amplification is around 360 folds.
• Peak time of a flash response is another factor that
determines the light sensitivity.
• Light sensitivity is proportional to (time-to-peak)n, where
n=2.5.
 Reference
• Tachibanaki S., Kawamura S.,Rod and cone
photoreceptors: Molecular basis of the
difference in their physiology. Comparative
Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 150
(2008) 369–377
• Wikipedia.org