Dark-adaptation in the eyes of a lake and a sea population of opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta): retinoid isomer dynamics, rhodopsin regeneration, and recovery of light sensitivity

We have studied dark-adaptation at three levels in the eyes of the crustacean Mysis relicta over 2–3 weeks after exposing initially dark-adapted animals to strong white light: regeneration of 11-cis retinal through the retinoid cycle (by HPLC), restoration of native rhodopsin in photoreceptor membranes (by MSP), and recovery of eye photosensitivity (by ERG). We compare two model populations (“Sea”, S(p), and “Lake”, L(p)) inhabiting, respectively, a low light and an extremely dark environment. 11-cis retinal reached 60–70% of the pre-exposure levels after 2 weeks in darkness in both populations. The only significant L(p)/S(p) difference in the retinoid cycle was that L(p) had much higher levels of retinol, both basal and light-released. In S(p), rhodopsin restoration and eye photoresponse recovery parallelled 11-cis retinal regeneration. In L(p), however, even after 3 weeks only ca. 25% of the rhabdoms studied had incorporated new rhodopsin, and eye photosensitivity showed only incipient recovery from severe depression. The absorbance spectra of the majority of the L(p) rhabdoms stayed constant around 490–500 nm, consistent with metarhodopsin II dominance. We conclude that sensitivity recovery of S(p) eyes was rate-limited by the regeneration of 11-cis retinal, whilst that of L(p) eyes was limited by inertia in photoreceptor membrane turnover.