Distribution of 3':5'-cyclic AMP and 3':5'-cyclic GMP in rabbit retina in vivo: selective effects of dark and light adaptation and ischemia.

By use of highly sensitive radioimmunoassays, 3':5'-cyclic AMP (cAMP) and 3':5'-cyclic GMP (cGMP) were measured in individual layers of light- and dark-adapted rabbit retinas, and the effects of ischemia were determined. In light-adapted retinas, cGMP levels ranged 50-fold, with over 90% of the total concentrated in the photoreceptor cells. The layer of outer segments contained 95 mumol/kg of dry weight, or three times the concentration present in the remainder of the photoreceptor cell layers. By contrast, levels of cAMP varied only 4-fold; the lowest level (6 mumol/kg of dry weight) was found in the outer segment layer and the highest level (22 mumol/kg of dry weight) in the inner segment layer of the photoreceptor cells. Dark adaptation elevated cGMP levels only in retinal layers containing photoreceptor cells, and the greatest proportional increase was observed in the synaptic layer of photoreceptor cells. Dark adaptation also caused increases of cAMP that were restricted to the outer plexiform and outer nuclear layers. Ischemia lowered cGMP levels, but only in retinal layers containing photoreceptor cells, and elevated cAMP levels, primarily in the inner layers of the retina. The effects of ischemia were greater in the dark-adapted than in light-adapted retinas. These results indicate that cGMP and cAMP levels in retina are influenced by the light adaptational state, that ischemia markedly modifies these processes, and that the effects of both light exposure and ischemia are regionally selective.