The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol 96, 265-276, Copyright © 1983 by The Rockefeller University Press

ARTICLES

Fine structure of a periciliary ridge complex of frog retinal rod cells revealed by ultrahigh resolution scanning electron microscopy

KR Peters, GE Palade, BG Schneider and DS Papermaster

We studied the junctional region between rod inner segments (RIS) and outer segments (ROS) in frog retinas by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Retinas of dark adapted or light exposed Rana pipiens were critical-point-dried and RIS and ROS were split and coated with ultrathin metal films of niobium and chromium--or decorated with gold--and imaged in a new SE-I imaging mode. The connecting cilium (CC) usually broke at the base of the RIS and remained attached to the ROS. The outer part of the CC plasmalemma expanded to form liplike protrusions beyond which disks evaginated with successively larger diameter until they reached the full width of the ROS. The CC rose out from an invagination of the RIS apical plasma membrane (PM). On the lateral walls of this invagination, a highly ordered complex of nine symmetrically arrayed ridges and grooves rose steeply and extended laterally approximately 0.4-1 micron on the adjacent RIS PM. On the apical plasmalemma, the ridges and grooves formed groups of three to four parallel rows that surrounded the invagination. The grooves were bridged by filaments anchored at the top edges of the ridges. This highly ordered structure we term the periciliary ridge complex (PRC). Its ninefold symmetry apparently reflects the 9 + 0 microtubule organization of the CC axoneme. The three-dimensional structure revealed by SEM was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of sections of Epon-embedded retinas. TEM-immunocytochemistry on thin sections of retinas embedded in glutaraldehyde cross-linked albumin suggested that the PRC and the CC may participate in opsin transport and disk morphogenesis.
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mazelova, J., Ransom, N., Astuto-Gribble, L., Wilson, M. C., Deretic, D. (2009). Syntaxin 3 and SNAP-25 pairing, regulated by omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid, controls the delivery of rhodopsin for the biogenesis of cilia-derived sensory organelles, the rod outer segments. J. Cell Sci. 122: 2003-2013 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Maerker, T., van Wijk, E., Overlack, N., Kersten, F. F.J., McGee, J., Goldmann, T., Sehn, E., Roepman, R., Walsh, E. J., Kremer, H., Wolfrum, U. (2008). A novel Usher protein network at the periciliary reloading point between molecular transport machineries in vertebrate photoreceptor cells. Hum Mol Genet 17: 71-86 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Liu, X., Bulgakov, O. V., Darrow, K. N., Pawlyk, B., Adamian, M., Liberman, M. C., Li, T. (2007). Usherin is required for maintenance of retinal photoreceptors and normal development of cochlear hair cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 4413-4418 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• James, P. S., Hennessy, C., Berge, T., Jones, R. (2004). Compartmentalisation of the sperm plasma membrane: a FRAP, FLIP and SPFI analysis of putative diffusion barriers on the sperm head. J. Cell Sci. 117: 6485-6495 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tam, B. M., Moritz, O. L., Papermaster, D. S. (2004). The C Terminus of Peripherin/rds Participates in Rod Outer Segment Targeting and Alignment of Disk Incisures. Mol. Biol. Cell 15: 2027-2037 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Papermaster, D. S. (2002). The Birth and Death of Photoreceptors : The Friedenwald Lecture. IOVS 43: 1300-1309 [Full Text]  
• Liu, Q., Zhou, J., Daiger, S. P., Farber, D. B., Heckenlively, J. R., Smith, J. E., Sullivan, L. S., Zuo, J., Milam, A. H., Pierce, E. A. (2002). Identification and Subcellular Localization of the RP1 Protein in Human and Mouse Photoreceptors. IOVS 43: 22-32 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Moritz, O. L., Tam, B. M., Hurd, L. L., Peranen, J., Deretic, D., Papermaster, D. S. (2001). Mutant rab8 Impairs Docking and Fusion of Rhodopsin-bearing Post-Golgi Membranes and Causes Cell Death of Transgenic Xenopus Rods. Mol. Biol. Cell 12: 2341-2351 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• R. Mackie, A., S. James, P., Ladha, S., Jones, R. (2001). Diffusion Barriers in Ram and Boar Sperm Plasma Membranes: Directionality of Lipid Diffusion Across the Posterior Ring. Biol. Reprod. 64: 113-119 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tam, B. M., Moritz, O. L., Hurd, L. B., Papermaster, D. S. (2000). Identification of an Outer Segment Targeting Signal in the Cooh Terminus of Rhodopsin Using Transgenic Xenopus laevis. JCB 151: 1369-1380 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Beech, P., Pagh-Roehl, K, Noda, Y, Hirokawa, N, Burnside, B, Rosenbaum, J. (1996). Localization of kinesin superfamily proteins to the connecting cilium of fish photoreceptors. J. Cell Sci. 109: 889-897 [Abstract]  
• Deretic, D, Huber, L., Ransom, N, Mancini, M, Simons, K, Papermaster, D. (1995). rab8 in retinal photoreceptors may participate in rhodopsin transport and in rod outer segment disk morphogenesis. J. Cell Sci. 108: 215-224 [Abstract]  
• Deretic, D, Papermaster, D. (1993). Rab6 is associated with a compartment that transports rhodopsin from the trans-Golgi to the site of rod outer segment disk formation in frog retinal photoreceptors. J. Cell Sci. 106: 803-813 [Abstract]  
• Hunter, D. G., Fishman, G. A., Kretzer, F. L. (1988). Abnormal Axonemes in X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa. Arch Ophthalmol 106: 362-368 [Abstract]  

Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents