Visual pigments of goldfish cones. Spectral properties and dichroism.

Freshly isolated retinal photoreceptors of goldfish were studied microspectrophotometrically. Absolute absorptance spectra obtained from dark-adapted cone outer segments reaffirm the existence of three spectrally distinct cone types with absorption maxima at 455 +/- 3,530 +/- 3, and 625 +/- 5 nm. These types were found often recognizable by gross cellular morphology. Side-illuminated cone outer segments were dichroic. The measured dichroic ratio for the main absorption band of each type was 2-3:1. Rapidly bleached cells revealed spectral and dichroic transitions in regions near 400-410, 435-455, and 350-360 nm. These photoproducts decay about fivefold as fast as the intermediates in frog rods. The spectral maxima of photoproducts, combined with other evidence, indicate that retinene(2) is the chromophore of all three cone pigments. The average specific optical density for goldfish cone outer segments was found to be 0.0124 +/- 0.0015/microm. The spectra of the blue-, and green-absorbing cones appeared to match porphyropsin standards with half-band width Deltanu = 4,832 +/- 100 cm(-1). The red-absorbing spectrum was found narrower, having Deltanu = 3,625 +/- 100 cm(-1). The results are consistent with the notion that visual pigment concentration within the outer segments is about the same for frog rods and goldfish cones, but that the blue-, and green-absorbing pigments possess molar extinctions of 30,000 liter/mol cm. The red-absorbing pigment was found to have extinction of 40,000 liter/mol cm, assuming invariance of oscillator strength among the three cone spectra.