Rhodopsins

Rhodopsins Rhodopsin and the correlation to Retinitis Pigmentosa In order to understand exactly how Rhodopsin, a photoreceptor found in retinal rods play a role in the disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, it is essential to understand the structure and function of the eye. The human eye rays of light get focused by the lens of the eye and the cornea, and form a clear image in the retina. Photoreceptors that capture photons of light come in two different structures, rods and cones. Rods are responsible for vision in poor lighting, and cones are responsible for vision in bright light. Rhodopsin is a type of photoreceptor found in rods, and its main purpose is to capture light photons and allow for vision. Figure 1. A cross-section of the human eye. Rhodopsins are complexes formed by the binding of retinaldehyde, the oxidized form of retinol, to the protein opsin. The complex undergoes a series of complex reactions in response to visible light, mainly through the use of neurotransmitters, which are released by the hyper-polarization and depolarization of the rp, light, eye, rhodopsin, vision, rods, found, pigmentosa, gene, form, understand, retinitis, retinal, retina, responsible, photoreceptor, photons, opsin, nearly, mutations, mutation, much, loss, human, disease, cones, complex, characterized, caused, capture, blindness, been, world, within, wise