Efferent fibers to Limulus eyes synthesize and release octopamine.

Octopamine synthesized in vitro from tyramine by Limulus lateral and ventral eyes was located by light microscopic and electron microscopic autoradiography in efferent fibers which innervate ventral photoreceptors and lateral eye ommatidia. Newly synthesized octopamine was released from efferent fibers in response to depolarization in high concentrations of potassium. We propose that octopamine is a neurotransmitter of efferent fibers that may modulate basic retinal processes such as photoreceptor sensitivity, photomechanical movements, and photoreceptive membrane turnover.