Microspectrophotometry studies show that zebrafish (Danio rerio) possess four cone photopigments. The purpose of this study was to determine the cone contributions to the zebrafish photopic increment threshold spectral-sensitivity function. Electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave responses to monochromatic lights presented on a broadband or chromatic background were obtained. It was found that under the broadband background condition, the zebrafish spectral-sensitivity function showed several peaks that were narrower in sensitivity compared to the cone spectra. The spectral-sensitivity function was modeled with L − M and M − S opponent interactions and nonopponent S- and U-cone mechanisms. Using chromatic adaptation designed to suppress the contribution of the S-cones, a strong U-cone contribution to the spectral-sensitivity function was revealed, and the contributions of the S-cones to the M − S mechanism were reduced. These results show that the b-wave component of the ERG receives input from all four cone types and appears to reflect color opponent mechanisms. Thus, zebrafish may possess the fundamental properties necessary for color vision.

Expression of the human RHO P23H transgene in the retina creates a miniature swine model with an inheritance pattern and retinal function that mimics adRP. This large-animal model can serve as a novel tool for the study of the pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention in the most common form of adRP.

We derived the cone fundamentals for X-chromosome-linked anomalous trichromats for the wavelength range of 400-700 nm. Pigment templates were constructed from the cone fundamentals of normal trichromats after correction for ocular media absorption. The resultant retinal-level sensitivities had small irregularities in the short-wavelength region that were smoothed. The pigment templates, expressed as quantal sensitivities, were then shifted on a frequency abscissa to solve for the lambda max of the pigments of anomalous trichromats needed to predict average anomaloscope matching data. We found that the protanomalous M- and L'-cone pigments are separated by 10 nm and the deuteranomalous M'- and L-cone pigments are separated by 6 nm (rounded to the nearest nanometer), where M and L indicate middle- and long-wavelength sensitive, respectively. The triads of peak wavelengths for the corneal energy-based sensitivities were as follows: normal: 440, 543, and 566 nm; protanomalous: 440, 543, and 553 nm; and deuteranomalous: 440, 560, and 566 nm.