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Science 12 January 1968:
Vol. 159. no. 3811, pp. 213 - 215
DOI: 10.1126/science.159.3811.213
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Articles

Membrane Origin of the Fast Photovoltage of Squid Retina

W. A. Hagins 1 and R. E. McGaughy 1

1 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

When a bright light flash is absorbed by a small region in the outer segments of squid photoreceptors fixed in glutaraldehyde, a brief pulse of membrane current flows locally. The passive spreading of this current along the outer segments produces the photochemical component of the "early receptor potential." The source of the current lies electrically in parallel with the cell membranes and perhaps is located within them. Fixation with glutaraldehyde apparently does not reduce the resistance of the cell membrane to less than 5 percent of its value in live cells.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Rapid mechanical responses of the dark-adapted squid retina to light pulses.
I Tasaki and T Nakaye (1984)
Science 223, 411-413
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A Role for the Sodium Pump in Photoreception in Limulus.
T. G. Smith, W. K. Stell, J. E. Brown, J. A. Freeman, and G. C. Murray (1968)
Science 162, 456-458
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Molecular Basis of Visual Excitation.
G. Wald (1968)
Science 162, 230-239
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