In the twenty-first century, we are just beginning to understand more clearly the enormous diversity and complexity of signaling processes in the retina. Integrating advances in the biochemistry, cell biology, physiology, and physics of phototransduction, Signal Transduction in the Retina presents the methodologies and experimental approache

The main purpose of this volume is to provide a focused analysis of the function of the G protein-coupled signaling pathways that operate in the interconnected network of retinal neurons as they detect and encode the information carried by light. The organization of this volume will generally follow the path of signal flow in the retina. First we will describe recent advances in understanding the phototransduction cascade of rod and cone photoreceptors, which use signaling cascade based on the GPCR rhodopsin to transduce incident light into neural activity. Chapters will be devoted to unique specializations of the two major types of photosensitive cells that comprise the predominant input for our spatial and color vision. Subsequently, the mechanisms of synaptic information encoding by retinal ON bipolar cells will be described, where the GPCR mGluR6 plays a fundamental role. Chapters in this section will examine macromolecular organization of the mGluR6 signaling pathway as well as current understanding of its function. The functional characteristics of this signaling mechanism will be explored in detail. Additionally, this section will cover the role of dopamine receptors in modulating signal transmission between photoreceptors and ON-bipolar cells. Finally, chapters will be focused on the output neurons of the inner retina, ganglion cells, where the components of the emerging GPCR melanopsin cascade in intrinsically photosensitive ganglion cells will be detailed. Collectively these mechanisms allow the retina to represent visual space over a wide range of light intensities.

Signal Transduction is a text reference on cellular signalling processes. Starting with the basics, it explains how cells respond to external cues (hormones, cytokines, neurotransmitters, adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix etc), and shows how these inputs are integrated and co-ordinated. The first half of the book provides the conceptual framework, explaining the formation and action of second messengers, particularly cyclic nucleotides and calcium, and the mediation of signal pathways by GTP-binding proteins. The remaining chapters deal with the formation of complex signalling cascades employed by cytokines and adhesion molecules, starting at the membrane and ending in the nucleus, there to regulate gene transcription. In this context, growth is an important potential outcome and this has relevance to the cellular transformations that underlie cancer. The book ends with a description at the molecular level of how signalling proteins interact with their environment and with each other through their structural domains. Each main topic is introduced with a historical essay, detailing the sources, key observations and experiments that set the scene for recent and current work.

This book reveals not only how the eye evolved into an organ of vision, but also describes how molecular mechanisms of key molecules operate in the phototransduction cascade. In this groundbreaking text, experts also explain mechanisms for sensing radiation outside of the visible wavelengths. Comprehensive and penetrating, the book brings together the mechanisms of the visual transduction cascade and is an invaluable text for everyone conducting research in the visual system.

This book provides the reader with background information on neurotransmitter release. Emphasis is placed on the rationale by which proteins are assigned specific functions rather than just providing facts about function.

This book provides a series of comprehensive views on various important aspects of vertebrate photoreceptors. The vertebrate retina is a tissue that provides unique experimental advantages to neuroscientists. Photoreceptor neurons are abundant in this tissue and they are readily identifiable and easily isolated. These features make them an outstanding model for studying neuronal mechanisms of signal transduction, adaptation, synaptic transmission, development, differentiation, diseases and regeneration. Thanks to recent advances in genetic analysis, it also is possible to link biochemical and physiological investigations to understand the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate photoreceptors within a functioning retina in a living animal. Photoreceptors are the most deeply studied sensory receptor cells, but readers will find that many important questions remain. We still do not know how photoreceptors, visual pigments and their signaling pathways evolved, how they were generated and how they are maintained. This book will make clear what is known and what is not known. The chapters are selected from fields of studies that have contributed to a broad understanding of the birth, development, structure, function and death of photoreceptor neurons. The underlying common word in all of the chapters that is used to describe these mechanisms is “molecule”. Only with this word can we understand how these highly specific neurons function and survive. It is challenging for even the foremost researchers to cover all aspects of the subject. Understanding photoreceptors from several different points of view that share a molecular perspective will provide readers with a useful interdisciplinary perspective.