Progress in Retinal and Eye Research.pdfVIP

Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 28 (2009) 289–302 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Progress in Retinal and Eye Research journal homepage: /locate/prer Structure of cone photoreceptors Debarshi Mustafi a, Andreas H. Engel a, b, Krzysztof Palczewski a, * a Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-4965, USA b ¨ Center for Cellular Imaging and Nanoanalytics, M.E. Muller Institute, Biozentrum, WRO-1058, Mattenstrasse 26, CH 4058 Basel, Switzerland a b s t r a c t Keywords: Although outnumbered more than 20:1 by rod photoreceptors, cone cells in the human retina mediate Cone photoreceptors daylight vision and are critical for visual acuity and color discrimination. A variety of human diseases are Rod photoreceptors characterized by a progressive loss of cone photoreceptors but the low abundance of cones and the Retinoids absence of a macula in non-primate mammalian retinas have made it difficult to investigate cones Retinoid cycle directly. Conventional rodents (laboratory mice and rats) are nocturnal rod-dominated species with few Chromophore Opsins cones in the retina, and studying other animals with cone-rich retinas presents various logistic and Retina