动物实验 z-bo 2020-09-28 347

　　The appearance of cephalopods like octopus is very attractive and a bit scary, because cephalopods may change color according to the surrounding environment. It used to be thought that this ability mainly depends on vision, because cephalopods can camouflage themselves by observing basic changes in the environment. However, new research shows that the proteins needed to recognize colors are also present in the skin of the scalp, so that different types of light can be detected without the brain's instructions.

　　This study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology investigated how the cellular structure of pigment cells interacts with light. Pigment cells contain pigments that control the appearance of skin color, and the pods are also equipped with muscle rings that can expand to change color.

　　Researchers performed octopus and squid skin biopsies and exposed them to various wavelengths of light. They can prove that pigment cells can directly respond to light, and blue light causes the pigment cells to swell the most. Next, the researchers tested the presence of the opsin gene in the skin and found that sensory neurons on the skin produced the opsin needed for light detection. This finding is very important because

　　Cephalopods are considered color blind. As a result, the ability to simulate the environment has puzzled the scientific community for many years. According to related research in the 1970s, octopuses can distinguish between light and dark areas, but they cannot identify different tones.