Light-sensitive response in melanophores of Xenopus laevis: I. Spectral characteristics of melanophore response in isolated tail fin of Xenopus tadpole.

Melanophores in the isolated tail from the amphibian larvae Xenopus laevis, Hyla japonicus, Rana pirica, and Hynobius retardatus aggregated melanin granules in response to light and dispersed them when placed in darkness. The spectral characteristics for the melanin-aggregation response were examined by irradiating the Xenopus tail-fin locally (diameter, 2.1 mm) with monochromatic light (380-1,020 nm). The spectral region of wave length which induced melanosome aggregation depended on the light intensity but was limited to the visible spectrum. At low light intensity (1.59 microW/cm2, delta lambda = 5 nm), the aggregation response occurred in the spectral region between 400 and 600 nm and the maximum response was observed at 500 nm. This range is very close to the absorption spectrum of rhodopsin in the visual rod cell. Hypodermic injection of cGMP into isolated tail-fin induced a marked melanin-dispersion in spite of light-stimuli. When the tail-fin was treated with isobutylmethylxanthine (IBMX; phosophodiesterase inhibitor) in darkness and then was re-exposed to light, the aggregation response was inhibited. The photo-sensitive melanin aggregation was independent of a requirement for Ca2+ ions but melanosome dispersion in darkness was Ca(2+)-dependent. K(+)-rich Hanks' solution, ouabain (inhibitor of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase) or nonactin (cation ionophore), which induced a change of the membrane potential of melanophores, inhibited the aggregation response when the melanophores were re-exposed to light after a period in darkness. These results suggest that the molecular mechanism of photoreception in melanophores of amphibian tadpoles is similar to that in visual cells.