Dual Sensitivities of Cells in Wolf Spider Eyes at Ultraviolet and Visible Wavelengths of Light
Open Access
- 1 March 1972
- journal article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of general physiology
- Vol. 59 (3) , 247-269
- https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.59.3.247
Abstract
Intracellular recordings have been made from visual cells in principal and secondary eyes of in vitro wolf spider preparations. The responses of all cells to all wavelengths of light were graded depolarizations; no hyperpolarizations or nerve discharges were seen. Cells in a secondary eye, the anterior lateral eye, had a maximum sensitivity in the visible at 510 nm and a secondary maximum, or shoulder, of sensitivity in the near ultraviolet at 380 nm. Cells in principal eyes, the anterior median eyes, all responded maximally both in the visible at 510 nm and in the ultraviolet at 360-370 nm or less. However, there was no typical ratio of ultraviolet to visible sensitivities; the differences in log sensitivities (log UV/VIS) varied from 3.3 to -0.5. Each principal eye had a population of cells with different ratios. These populations varied with the time of the year, possibly due to changes in light upon the animals. Chromatic adaptations of cells in anterior median (but not anterior lateral) eyes resulted in small, selective changes in spectral sensitivities, and there was some facilitation of responses from cells repeatedly stimulated. It is concluded that cells of secondary eyes contain only a visual pigment absorbing maximally in the visible, while cells of principal eyes probably contain variable amounts of both this pigment and one absorbing in the ultraviolet as well.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Insect Visual Pigment sensitive to Ultraviolet LightNature, 1971
- Spectral Sensitivity of the Barnacle, Balanus amphitrite The Journal of general physiology, 1971
- Structure of the Retinae of the Principal Eyes of Jumping Spiders (Salticidae: Dendryphantinae) in Relation to Visual OpticsJournal of Experimental Biology, 1969
- The Spectral Sensitivities of Single Cells in the Median Ocellus of Limulus The Journal of general physiology, 1969
- Interreceptor coupling in ommatidia of drone honeybee and locust compound eyesVision Research, 1969
- Limulus receptor action spectraVision Research, 1969
- Variability and relationships of fish visual pigmentsVision Research, 1965
- Neuromuscular transmission in a spider and the effect of calciumComparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 1965
- ELECTRICAL STUDIES ON THE COMPOUND EYE OF LIGIA OCCIDENTALIS DANA (CRUSTACEA: ISOPODA)The Journal of general physiology, 1954
- THE INTERPRETATION OF SPECTRAL SENSITIVITY CURVESBritish Medical Bulletin, 1953