Spectral analysis of absorption changes associated with nerve excitation in dye-stained crab nerve.

Spectral characteristics of absorption changes associated with nerve excitation were studied with crab nerves stained with a homologous series of dyes, merocyanine-rhodanines and rhodanine oxonols. In these classes of dyes, the absorption changes which followed approximately the same time course as that of the action potential (fast responses) depended in a similar fashion on the wavelength and polarization of the incident light. In order to interpret those commonly observed dependencies, a mode of reorientation of the absorption oscillators of the dye molecules in the membrane matrix during nerve excitation was proposed. In addition to the fast changes mentioned above, slow responses which developed during and after the action potential were commonly observed with oxonols. The spectra of the slow changes differed from those of the fast ones, indicating a distinct mechanism on the response production. A possible mechanism of the production of fast responses was also discussed based on the proposed mode of reorientation of the absorption oscillators.