Open AccessThe Visual Cycle of the Cone Photoreceptors of the Retina
Author(s) -
George Wolf
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
nutrition reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.958
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1753-4887
pISSN - 0029-6643
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2004.tb00053.x
Subject(s) - retina , retinal , opsin , visual phototransduction , biology , anatomy , rod , color vision , biophysics , optics , rhodopsin , neuroscience , physics , medicine , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology
The photoreceptors of the eye's retina consist of rods and cones; rods serve vision in dim light, whereas cones serve high‐resolution color vision in daylight. The first event in vision is the light‐initiated isomerization of 11‐cis‐retinal, which is attached to rod or cone opsin, to all‐trans‐retinal. The regeneration of 11‐cis‐retinal comprises the well‐known visual cycle in rods. By using cone‐dominant retinas from chickens and ground squirrels, a visual cycle has been discovered in cones that differs radically from that in rods, mainly in the mechanism of isomerization of all‐trans‐retinol to 11‐cis‐retinol, and the latter's oxidation to 11‐cis‐retinal .