Abstract
A BRIEF flash of bright light bleaches half the rhodopsin in the rods of a human eye, although Rushton found it as effective in elevating the rod threshold as a long full bleach1. This is a paradox because in both rat2 and man3–6 there is a linear relation between the fraction of visual pigment still unregenerated and the log threshold in the dark after a full bleach. Fig. 1 illustrates this effect. The open circles show the dark adaptation curve after a long full bleach, the filled circles following a 1/1,500 s xenon flash which yielded 1.5 (10)8 hν absorbed/rod and bleached half the rhodopsin exposed to it.
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ALPERN, M. Effect of a Bright Light Flash on Dark Adaptation of Human Rods. Nature 230, 394–396 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230394a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/230394a0
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