| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
Fiscal Year 1991: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1990: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The goal of this study is to clarify the neural mechanism of color signal processing in the distal retina of the vertebrates, especiall the primates. Since the physiological approach is extremely difficult in the higher vertebrate retinas, I raised polyclonal antibodies recognizing human cone opsins and investigated three chromatic subtypes of cone photoreceptors in the various vertebrates by immunohistochemical labeling.
Fist year: I synthesized several peptides, mostly N-terminal prptide of human rhodopsin as well as cone opsins, and then immunized rabbits or mice by subcutaneous lnjection of peptides conjugated with BSA. I also used the monoclonal antibody, MAb 15 -18, against 188-202th amino acid sequence of bovine rhodopsin (this paper was published).
Second year: I used these antibodies and succeeded in labeling cone outer segments of almost all the veretebrate species: frogs, turtles, birds, and primates. However, I failed to label any cones in the teleost retinas. This result suggests that N- terminal peptides of fish cone opsins are different from those in the other higher vertebrates including human. Using the same antibodies, I also lnvestigated the primate retinas, macaque and rhesus monkeys, and obtained following conclusions: 1) Previous psychophysical studies reported that the human foveoia has no blue cone, however I found a small number of blue cone in both species. 2) the lattice, or hexagonal array, of blue cones was reported, but there is no clear arrangement in all retinal area.
These new findings would contribute further study of neural mechanism of color signal processing in the visual system.
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