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Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera

The functional significance of the pigment migration in the compound insect eye during dark adaptation has been studied in diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera. Measurements of the photomechanical changes were made on sections of eyes which had been dark-adapted for varying periods of time. In some exp...

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Autores principales: Bernhard, C. G., Ottoson, D.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Rockefeller University Press 1960
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2195080/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19873531
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author Bernhard, C. G.
Ottoson, D.
author_facet Bernhard, C. G.
Ottoson, D.
author_sort Bernhard, C. G.
collection PubMed
description The functional significance of the pigment migration in the compound insect eye during dark adaptation has been studied in diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera. Measurements of the photomechanical changes were made on sections of eyes which had been dark-adapted for varying periods of time. In some experiments the sensitivity changes during dark adaptation were first determined before the eye was placed in the fixation solution. No change in the position of the retinal pigment occurred in Cerapteryx graminis until the eye had been dark-adapted for about 5 minutes. The start of the migration was accompanied by the appearance of a break in the dark adaptation curve. During longer periods of dark adaptation the outward movement of the pigment proceeded in parallel with the change in sensitivity, the migration as well as the adaptive process being completed within about 30 minutes. In the diurnal insects chosen for the present study (Erebia, Argynnis) the positional changes of the retinal pigment were insignificant in comparison with the movement of the distal pigment in Cerapteryx graminis. On the basis of these observations the tentative hypothesis is put forward that the second phase of adaptive change in nocturnal Lepidoptera is mediated by the migration of the retinal pigment while the first phase is assumed to be produced by the resynthesis of some photochemical substance. In diurnal insects which have no appreciable pigment migration the biochemical events alone appear to be responsible for the increase in sensitivity during dark adaptation.
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spelling pubmed-21950802008-04-23 Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera Bernhard, C. G. Ottoson, D. J Gen Physiol Article The functional significance of the pigment migration in the compound insect eye during dark adaptation has been studied in diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera. Measurements of the photomechanical changes were made on sections of eyes which had been dark-adapted for varying periods of time. In some experiments the sensitivity changes during dark adaptation were first determined before the eye was placed in the fixation solution. No change in the position of the retinal pigment occurred in Cerapteryx graminis until the eye had been dark-adapted for about 5 minutes. The start of the migration was accompanied by the appearance of a break in the dark adaptation curve. During longer periods of dark adaptation the outward movement of the pigment proceeded in parallel with the change in sensitivity, the migration as well as the adaptive process being completed within about 30 minutes. In the diurnal insects chosen for the present study (Erebia, Argynnis) the positional changes of the retinal pigment were insignificant in comparison with the movement of the distal pigment in Cerapteryx graminis. On the basis of these observations the tentative hypothesis is put forward that the second phase of adaptive change in nocturnal Lepidoptera is mediated by the migration of the retinal pigment while the first phase is assumed to be produced by the resynthesis of some photochemical substance. In diurnal insects which have no appreciable pigment migration the biochemical events alone appear to be responsible for the increase in sensitivity during dark adaptation. The Rockefeller University Press 1960-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC2195080/ /pubmed/19873531 Text en Copyright © Copyright, 1961, by The Rockefeller Institute This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.rupress.org/terms). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bernhard, C. G.
Ottoson, D.
Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title_full Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title_fullStr Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title_full_unstemmed Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title_short Studies on the Relation between the Pigment Migration and the Sensitivity Changes during Dark Adaptation in Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera
title_sort studies on the relation between the pigment migration and the sensitivity changes during dark adaptation in diurnal and nocturnal lepidoptera
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2195080/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19873531
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