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Photoreceptor photopigments

dslc1000
in Anatomy, Physiology and Neuroscience

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I have a few specific questions:

(i) How many photopigments are then in a typical rod and a typical cone?

(ii) Does the number vary? If so, in what range?

There are 3 in cones. Red, green, and blue opsins, which are all types of rhodopsins. There is only 1 kind in rods. The numbers of kinds of pigments does not vary from cell to cell, however the concentration of cones is localized to the fovea.

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Thanks fafalone, but I'm not sure that's the information I was looking for. What I meant to ask was 'how many actual rhodopsin molecules are there per photoreceptor, i.e. embedded in the discs of the photoreceptor outer segments?' Are you saying that there are only three in cones, and one in rods?

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