How vision begins: An odyssey
- *Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience and
- ‡Department of Ophthalmology and
- †Center for Sensory Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
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Edited by Solomon H. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and approved May 15, 2008 (received for review April 1, 2008)
Abstract
Retinal rods and cones, which are the front-end light detectors in the eye, achieve wonders together by being able to signal single-photon absorption and yet also able to adjust their function to brightness changes spanning 109-fold. How these cells detect light is now quite well understood. Not surprising for almost any biological process, the intial step of seeing reveals a rich complexity as the probing goes deeper. The odyssey continues, but the knowledge gained so far is already nothing short of remarkable in qualitative and quantitative detail. It has also indirectly opened up the mystery of odorant sensing. Basic science aside, clinical ophthalmology has benefited tremendously from this endeavor as well. This article begins by recapitulating the key developments in this understanding from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, during which period the advances were particularly rapid and fit for an intricate detective story. It then highlights some details discovered more recently, followed by a comparison between rods and cones.
Footnotes
- §To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 905 Preclinical Teaching Building, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205. E-mail: kwyau{at}mail.jhmi.edu
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Author contributions: D.-G.L., T.X., and K.-W.Y. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
- © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
