Different ionic conductances are modulated during the late receptor potential and the prolonged depolarizing afterpotential in Hermissenda type A photoreceptors.

Wavelength-dependent, bistable phenomena were found in the receptor potential of Hermissenda crassicornis type A photoreceptors. Short exposure to blue light induced a prolonged depolarizing afterpotential (PDA) following the cessation of the light stimulus. Stronger adaptation to blue light, as caused by prolonged exposure and/or high intensity stimulation, effected a reduction in the early depolarizing transient of the late receptor potential (LRP) as elicited by subsequent stimuli. Vast separation of LRP emergence and PDA emergence could be obtained in photoreceptors in which a strong cancellation of the LRP was accomplished but a PDA still emerged after cessation of the light stimulus. Short exposure to yellow light cancelled the PDA, and stronger adaptation restored the LRP (opposite effect to blue light). The initial depolarizing part of the LRP had earlier been demonstrated to be mediated by the light-dependent increase of an inward conductance. In contrast, in this study the PDA was found to be accompanied by the reduction of an outward conductance, most likely a K+ conductance. A bistable photopigment system is thought to control the bistable receptor potential phenomenology by regulating the different membrane conductances during the LRP and the PDA.