Photoreceptor Shedding Is Initiated by Light in the Frog Retina

Abstract

Frogs maintained on a diurnal light-dark cycle (14 hours light and 10 hours darkness) shed their rod photoreceptor outer segment tips shortly after the onset of light. Shedding is synchronous and occurs in about 25 percent of the rod photoreceptors each day. Prolonged exposure to total darkness decreases the amount of shedding, after which exposure to light results in a large burst of synchronous shedding. Thus in the frog retina, the synchronous shedding of rod outer segment tips is shown to be directly related to light stimulation.