The properties of visual pigments (human rhodopsin, midshipman rhodopsin, the gecko 521-pigment, chicken iodopsin and other selected ones will be investigated and compared. This will include examination of these pigments in situ as well as in solution. The properties to be examined include their thermal behavior, their photosensitivity, the meta-III intermediate, the effects of pH and other ions (chloride and nitrate), their stereospecificity, and the parameters involved in the spontaneous regeneration that occurs following specific bleaches. In the experimental procedures agents such as NH2OH, Na2BH4, p-mercuribenzoate, dithiothreitol and diverse retinal and 3-dehydroretinal isomers, as well as analogues thereof, will be employed. A search will also be made for pathological human eyes, such as eyes of persons with retinitis pigmentosa, in order to examine the rhodopsin for any deviations from the normal properties. Behind these examinations lie ideas involving a possible isomerase action of opsin following a photic bleach, the possible role of the metarhodopsin-III in human vision, and the biological interpretation of the gecko visual pigments as components of cells in phylogenetic transmutation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY002178-09
Application #
3256541
Study Section
Visual Sciences A Study Section (VISA)
Project Start
1978-04-01
Project End
1987-04-30
Budget Start
1986-04-01
Budget End
1987-04-30
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
119132785
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
James, T W; Crescitelli, F; Loew, E R et al. (1992) The eyespot of Euglena gracilis: a microspectrophotometric study. Vision Res 32:1583-91
Crescitelli, F; James, T W; Erickson, J M et al. (1992) The eyespot of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: a comparative microspectrophotometric study. Vision Res 32:1593-600
Crescitelli, F; Karvaly, B (1991) The gecko visual pigment: the anion hypsochromic effect. Vision Res 31:945-50
Crescitelli, F (1991) The scotopic photoreceptors and their visual pigments of fishes: functions and adaptations. Vision Res 31:339-48
Crescitelli, F (1990) Adaptations of visual pigments to the photic environment of the deep sea. J Exp Zool Suppl 5:66-75
Crescitelli, F; Karvaly, B (1989) The visual pigment cyanide effect. Photochem Photobiol 50:785-91
Crescitelli, F; Karvaly, B (1989) The Gecko visual pigment: the dark exchange reaction and the effects of anions. Exp Eye Res 49:43-8
Crescitelli, F (1988) The gecko visual pigment: the chromophore dark exchange reaction. Exp Eye Res 46:239-48
Crescitelli, F; Liu, R S (1988) The spectral properties and photosensitivities of analogue photopigments regenerated with 10- and 14-substituted retinal analogues. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 233:55-76
Liu, R S; Crescitelli, F; Denny, M et al. (1986) Photosensitivity of 10-substituted visual pigment analogues: detection of a specific secondary opsin-retinal interaction. Biochemistry 25:7026-30

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