Intermediate filaments in the retinal Müller cells as natural light energy guides

Abstract

In the current study, we investigated transmission spectrum of the intermediate filaments (IFs) extracted from porcine retinal Müller cells (MC). The recorded transmission spectrum is quite similar to that of the entire guinea pig retina, providing direct proof that the quantum mechanism (QM) of light energy transmission through the inverted retina is in fact the main mechanism determining the high-contrast vision of the vertebrate eyes. The recorded transmission spectrum of the IFs was deconvoluted into four bands, which we assign to different types of IFs. We interpret the differences in the transmission band shape and maxima as differences in the effective electron mass, dependent on the IF structure and composition of its constituting proteins. We analyzed model systems containing IFs and dye molecules, and IFs bridging two adjacent cobalt nanofilms on a substrate. The respective results demonstrate that IFs function as waveguides transferring energy from an energy donor and to an energy acceptor, by way of the exchange mechanism. The presently reported results provide direct experimental confirmation of the earlier proposed quantum mechanism for the high-contrast vision of vertebrate eyes. The mechanism proposed in the current study may be generalized, providing a consistent alternative to Davydov's theory of vibrational solitons in enzymes.