Summary
In isolated eyestalks of the crab,Leptograpsus variegatus, retinula cells exposed to a small volume of bathing medium will synthesize and assemble new rhabdomeres in the same circumstances as the intact animal; that is, in response to normal laboratory dusk, to early dusk, and in the absence of darkness if light is continued past the normal dusk time. Under some conditions cytoskeletal elements are preserved which are not normally seen in this tissue with the usual fixation and dissection techniques. More reduced preparations consisting of cornea and retina, with or without the lamina, are sufficiently viable to allow experiments on at least the initiation of synthesis. Synthesis in response to early darkness is not dependent on input from outside the retina. Indications of synthesis are also found in reduced preparations held in the light over normal dusk time, implying that the endogenously triggered synthesis is also independent of extraretinal factors.
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Abbreviations
- ER :
-
endoplasmic reticulum
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Stowe, S. Rhabdom synthesis in isolated eyestalks and retinae of the crabLeptograpsus variegatus . J. Comp. Physiol. 148, 313–321 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00679016
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00679016