In the honey bee drone, the decrease in sensitivity to light of a retinula cell exposed to background illumination was found to be accurately reflected by the difference in amplitude between the initial transient depolarization and the lowest steady depolarization evoked by the background light. It is shown that both the decrease in sensitivity to light and the accompanying drop in potential from the transient to the plateau can be prevented by injecting EGTA intracellularly. A decrease in duration and amplitude of responses to short test flashes such as observed immediately after illumination was found to occur too when Ca or Na, but not K, Li, or Mg injected into dark-adapted retinula cells. Injection of EGTA into a retinula cell maintained a steady state of light adaptation, was found to cause an increase in amplitude and duration of the response to a short test flash, thus producing the effects of dark adaptation. It is suggested that, in the retina of the honey bee drone, an increase in intracellular calcium concentration plays a central role in light adaptation and that an increase in intracellular sodium concentration, resulting from the influx of sodium ions during the responses to light, could lead to this increase in intracellular free calcium.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 April 1976
Article|
April 01 1976
Role of intracellular calcium and sodium in light adaptation in the retina of the honey bee drone (Apis mellifera, L).
C Bader
F Baumann
D Bertrand
Online ISSN: 1540-7748
Print ISSN: 0022-1295
J Gen Physiol (1976) 67 (4): 475–491.
Citation
C Bader, F Baumann, D Bertrand; Role of intracellular calcium and sodium in light adaptation in the retina of the honey bee drone (Apis mellifera, L).. J Gen Physiol 1 April 1976; 67 (4): 475–491. doi: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.67.4.475
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionSuggested Content
Diffusion and consumption of oxygen in the superfused retina of the drone (Apis mellifera) in darkness.
J Gen Physiol (June,1981)
Slow and Spike Potentials Recorded from Retinula Cells of the Honeybee Drone in Response to Light
J Gen Physiol (December,1968)
Microspectrophotometry of single rhabdoms in the retina of the honeybee drone (Apis mellifera male).
J Gen Physiol (October,1983)
Email alerts
Advertisement