Retinal cones

The distribution of rods and cones is shown in Figure 3b centered about the fovea, the area of the retina that has the highest concentration of cones with essentially no rods and also has the best resolving capabiUty, with a resolution about one minute of arc. The fovea is nominally taken as a 5° zone, with its central 1° zone designated the foveola. There are about 40 R and 20 G cones for each B cone in the eye as a whole, whereas in the fovea there are almost no B cones. A result of this is that color perception depends on the angle of the cone of light received by the eye. The extremely complex chemistry involved in the stimulation of opsin molecules, such as the rhodopsin of the rods, and the neural connections in the retinal pathway are well covered in Reference 21. 

The trichromatic theory, subsequendy confirmed by the existence of the three sets of cones, must be combined with the opponent theory, which is involved in the retinal pathway. A third approach, the appearance theory (2) or the retinex theory, must be added to explain color constancy and other effects. As one example of this last, consider an area perceived as red in a multicolored object such as a Mondrian painting when illuminated with white... 

Fig. 1. Representative spectral sensitivities of the human retinal receptors, (-) scotopic (rod) vision, and P, y, and p cone sensitivities. The wavelengths of...

The retinol that is delivered to the retinas of the eyes in this manner is accumulated by rod and cone cells. In the rods (which are the better characterized of the two cell types), retinol is oxidized by a specific retinol dehydrogenase to become 2iW-trans retinal and then converted to 11-eis retinal by reti-... 

Netzhaut-. retinal, -bild, n. retinal image, -eindruck, m. retinal impression, -stabcheu, n. retinal rod, -zkpfchen, n. retinal cone. 

Photodiode arrays have been used as retinal implants [684]. These arrays of p-i-n diodes are fabricated on a thin titanium layer bonded to a glass plate. The total thickness of this flexible structure is 1.5 yum. The microphotodiode array (MPDA) is used to replace photoreceptors (rods and cones) that have become defective due to disease. 

Arikawa, K., Molday, L. L., Molday, R. S. and Williams, D. S. Localization of peripherine/rds in the disk membranes of cone and rod photoreceptors relationship to disk membrane morphogenesis and retinal degeneration. /. Cell Biol. 116 659-667,1992. 

The active compound within the bacillary layer is retinal. To simplify the photo-physics within the rods and cones hugely, absorption of a photon initiates a series of conformational changes that lead ultimately to photo-isomerization of retinal from the 11-cis isomer to the 11-trans isomer see Figure 9.20. The uncoiling of the molecule following photo-excitation triggers a neural impulse, which is detected and deconvoluted by the brain. The photochemical reaction is breakage and, after rotation, re-formation of the C=C bond. 

In colour vision there are three specific types of cone cell corresponding to red, green and blue receptors. The chromophore is the same for all three colours, being 11-cis-retinal bound to a protein which is structurally similar to opsin. Colour selectivity is achieved by positioning specific amino acid side chains along the chromophore so as to perturb the absorption spectrum of the chromophore. 

Campbell, D. S. and Holt, C. E. Chemotropic responses of retinal growth cones mediated by rapid local protein synthesis and degradation. Neuron 2001, 32, 1013-1026. 

A (carotene) Retinoic acid and retinol act as growth regulators, especially in epithelium Retinal is important in rod and cone cells for vision... 

In photoreceptor cells, the rods and cones of the human retina, the retinal is linked to a specific protein termed opsin. The resulting pigment is known as rhodopsin. When a photon of light of the proper wavelength hits a molecule of rhodopsin, two chemical events take place. First, the ll-c -retinal is converted to the all-trans form and, secondly, the all-trani-retinal is released from the rhodopsin ... 

There are several different rhodopsins in the cones. All of them contain retinal molecules as light-sensitive components, the absorption properties of which are modulated by the different proportions of opsin they... 

Vitamin A is essential for proper functioning of the retina, for the integrity of epithelial tissue, for growth and bone development and for reproduction. For vision the active vitamin appears to be retinal as the chromophore of both rods and cones is 11-cis-retinal which, in combination with the protein opsin, forms the photoreceptor rhodopsin. Retinoic acid is the active form associated with growth, differentiation, and transformation. Both all-trans and 9-cis retinoic acid act as a steroid hormone to affect cellular differentiation, especially for morphogenesis, reproduction and for immune responses. At... 

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