Analysis of extracellular calcium and volume changes in the compound eye of the honeybee drone,Apis mellifera

Abstract

Superfused slices of drone retina were used for a quantitative analysis of light-induced changes in extracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]o) and extracellular space (ECS) volume. 20-ms light flashes elicited biphasic changes in [Ca2+]o. For a saturating flash a brief, initial decrease was followed by a transient increase of 120±34 μM. Long, dim steps of light (5 min) produced either a decrease or an increase in [Ca2+]o depending strongly on the previous illumination. Brighter continuous lights caused the [Ca2+]o to increase transiently by 1.4 mM to a peak from which it decayed to a plateau, up to 0.6 mM above the dark concentration. Light flashes (20 ms) caused a shrinkage in ECS volume not exceeding 4%. Thus, changes in [Ca2+]o were almost completely due to Ca2+ fluxes between the ECS and adjacent cells. Continuous lights caused a shrinkage in ECS volume rarely exceeding 16%–20%. Thus, less than 15% of the measured Ca2+ changes could be attributed to shrinkage of the ECS. These data confirm that the ECS functions as a source and a sink for Ca2+ mobilized by light. For comparison, we also made a few measurements of changes in [Ca2+]o in the retina ofCalliphora.