These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Noninvasive two-photon imaging reveals retinyl ester storage structures in the eye.
    Author: Imanishi Y, Batten ML, Piston DW, Baehr W, Palczewski K.
    Journal: J Cell Biol; 2004 Feb 02; 164(3):373-83. PubMed ID: 14745001.
    Abstract:
    Visual sensation in vertebrates is triggered when light strikes retinal photoreceptor cells causing photoisomerization of the rhodopsin chromophore 11-cis-retinal to all-trans-retinal. The regeneration of preillumination conditions of the photoreceptor cells requires formation of 11-cis-retinal in the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Using the intrinsic fluorescence of all-trans-retinyl esters, noninvasive two-photon microscopy revealed previously uncharacterized structures (6.9 +/- 1.1 microm in length and 0.8 +/- 0.2 microm in diameter) distinct from other cellular organelles, termed the retinyl ester storage particles (RESTs), or retinosomes. These structures form autonomous all-trans-retinyl ester-rich intracellular compartments distinct from other organelles and colocalize with adipose differentiation-related protein. As demonstrated by in vivo experiments using wild-type mice, the RESTs participate in 11-cis-retinal formation. RESTs accumulate in Rpe65-/- mice incapable of carrying out the enzymatic isomerization, and correspondingly, are absent in the eyes of Lrat-/- mice deficient in retinyl ester synthesis. These results indicate that RESTs located close to the RPE plasma membrane are essential components in 11-cis-retinal production.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]