Phototransduction Flashcards
What is contain in the outer segment of a retinal rod cell?
Pigment containing discs
What channels are important in rod cells?
Na+ K+ ATPase
Na+ K+ Ca2+ exchange protein
CGMP regulated ion channel
What does the Na+K+Ca2+ exchange channel do?
Moves sodium in and potassium and calcium out
Decreases intracellalar calcium
Powered by sodium potassium ATPase gradient set up
What does the CGMP channel regulate?
When cGMP bound it permits sodium and calcium influx = depolarisation
Wat does the balance of calcium influx and efflux achieve?
Intracellaul are calcium level of about 500nM
Memebrane is slightly depolarised (-40mV) allowing glutamate release to bipolar neurons
The cells in the dark state is depolorised…what does this allow form?
Tonic release of glutamate
What I’d the GPCR which in embedded into the discs?
Rhodopsin
Rhodopsin is made from what?
The GPCR opsin
Covalently bound prosthetic group (11-cis-retinal)
What does light do to Rhodopsin?
Converts the inverse agonists (11-cis-retinal) to the full agonist (trans-retinal)
Causes a conformational change in GPCR which increases the guanine nucleotide exchange factor activity
The is the G protein associated with rhodopsin?
Transducin (Gt)
Describe the pathway why which a photon decreases the amount of cGMP in a cell
Activation of Rhodopsin causes GDP for GTP exchange on transducin which causes alpha subunit to lose affinity for BY subunits.
Gat then activates PDE6 which was sequestered by an inhibitory gamma 2 subunit and converts it to PDE(alpha,beta)
Activated PDE6 then cleaves cGMP to 5’GMP
What is the effect of cGMP cleavage?
Decreases cGMP gated ion channel activation. This then causes the channel to close which decreases sodium and calcium influx = hyperpolarization
What does the concentration of calcium drop to following cGMP regulated ion channel closure? What does this do no NT release
100nM
Decreases it
How is the signal amplified in this system?
Depends on the ambient level of light (low light = low amplification)
1Rh can activate >10 transducin molecules
Gat can then activate several PDE6 (1500 fold increase in PDE6 activity)
Therefore, 1 photon can hydrolysed >10^5 cGMP molecules
How long does it take for phototransduction recovery
200ms
What 3 processes control recovery of phototransduction?
Inactivation of rhodopsin
Inactivation of transducin
Resynthesis of cGMP
How long is Rh* activated for?
Approx 40ms therefore can only activate 10-15 transducins
What GRK phosphorylates rhodopsin and where does this occur?
Disc membrane bound GRK1
C terminal
How many time of Rh* phosphorylated and what effect does this have?
Three times
Each time partially decreases the rate at which Rh* can activate transducin