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Rod and cone function in coneless mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2006

GARY A. WILLIAMS ,
KRISTIN A. DAIGLE  and
GERALD H. JACOBS
GARY A. WILLIAMS
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California
KRISTIN A. DAIGLE
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California
GERALD H. JACOBS
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California
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Abstract

Transgenic coneless mice were initially developed to study retinal function in the absence of cones. In coneless mice created by expressing an attenuated diphtheria toxin under the control of flanking sequences from the human L-cone opsin gene, a small number of cones (3–5% of the normal complement) survive in a retina that otherwise appears structurally quite normal. These cones predominantly (∼87% of the total) contain UV-sensitive photopigment. ERG recordings, photoreceptor labeling, and behavioral measurements were conducted on coneless and wild-type mice to better understand how the nature of this alteration in receptor complement impacts vision. Signals from the small residual population of UV cones are readily detected in the flicker ERG where they yield signal amplitudes at saturation that are roughly proportional to the number of surviving cones. Behavioral measurements show that rod-based vision in coneless mice does not differ significantly from that of wild-type mice, nor does their rod system show any evidence of age-related deterioration. Coneless mice are able to make accurate rod-based visual discriminations at light levels well in excess of those required to reach cone threshold in wild-type mice.

Keywords

Coneless miceUltraviolet-sensitive conesPhotoreceptor labelingElectroretinogramBehavioral measurements of visual sensitivity
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 22 , Issue 6 , November 2005 , pp. 807 - 816
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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