Blue-sensitive cones in the primate retina: microspectrophotometry of the visual pigment.

Direct absorbance and bleaching absorbance-difference spectra were obtained using a photon-counting microspectrophotometer from the outer segments of ten blue-sensitive cones of macaque monkeys. The peak wavelength (lambda max) of the direct measurements was 426 +/- 3.4 nm, whereas the lambda max of the bleaching difference was 434 +/- 6.6 nm. We consider these values to be upper and lower bounds since both measurements may be shifted in opposite directions by wavelength-dependent effects. Therefore, the true peak sensitivity must be close to 430 nm.