Retinyl esters in the vertebrate neuroretina

1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (1) ◽  
pp. R255-R258 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Rodriguez ◽  
A. T. Tsin

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed to measure retinyl esters in the vertebrate retina. Both retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from frog, chicken, and bovine eyes were studied. In comparison to the RPE, the retina possessed a significant level of 11-cis and all trans retinyl palmitate. Using a sensitive radioassay, we also detected the presence of retinyl ester hydrolase (REH) activity in homogenates prepared from both retina and RPE. The rate of retinyl ester hydrolysis in these retinas was sufficiently high to supply retinal chromophores for the metabolic renewal and for the regeneration of visual pigments. In comparison to retinyl esters in the RPE, retinyl esters in the retina are located much closer to the sites of visual pigment synthesis and regeneration. Hence it is possible that these retinyl esters play a more important role in the visual cycle than those in the RPE.

1989 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
A. T. Tsin ◽  
S. N. Gentles ◽  
E. A. Castillo

Two groups of goldfish (Carassius auratus) were subjected to light and temperature conditions known to promote a contrast in their scotopic visual pigment compositions. After 3 weeks, the porphyropsin/rhodopsin ratio in the neuroretina of these goldfish ranged from 99% porphyropsin in one group to 59% in the other. Samples of blood, liver and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were also removed from these animals and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for vitamin A composition. There was consistently more vitamin A2 than vitamin A1 (over 50% vitamin A2) in both vitamin A alcohol and vitamin A esters extracted from the liver and the RPE. In contrast, only 30% of all vitamin A extracted from the blood was vitamin A2. These observations suggest that it is mainly vitamin A1 that is transported in the blood, whereas vitamin A2 is selectively retained in the liver and in the RPE and used to form porphyropsin in the eye.


1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (6) ◽  
pp. R1346-R1350
Author(s):  
J. J. Bustamante ◽  
S. Ziari ◽  
R. D. Ramirez ◽  
A. T. Tsin

The ability of chicken retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) membrane to hydrolyze vitamin A esters ([9,10(-3)H]all-trans- and 11-cis-retinyl palmitate) was studied. Hydrolytic activity within the retina was optimal at acidic pH of 5.0, whereas in the RPE significant hydrolytic activity was exhibited over a broad range of hydrogen ion concentrations. The highest rate of hydrolysis was associated with the all-trans-isomer and located within retina and RPE membranes [the apparent maximal velocity (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) were 770 pmol.min.-1.mg-1 and 45 microM and 300 pmol.min-1.mg-1 and 3.6 microM, respectively[. Retinyl ester hydrolase activities for 11-cis-retinyl palmitate in the retina and RPE were correspondingly lower (apparent Vmax of 204 pmol.min.-1.mg-1 and Km of 18.5 microM in the retina; apparent Vmax of 131 pmol.min.-1.mg-1 and Km of 4 microM in the RPE). Together with results from other laboratories, results from the present study suggest that chicken retina contains important enzymes to complete the visual cycle.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srinivasagan Ramkumar ◽  
Vipul M Parmar ◽  
Ivy Samuels ◽  
Nathan A Berger ◽  
Beata Jastrzebska ◽  
...  

Abstract The retinal pigment epithelium of the vertebrate eyes acquires vitamin A from circulating retinol binding protein for chromophore biosynthesis. The chromophore covalently links with an opsin protein in the adjacent photoreceptors of the retina to form the bipartite visual pigment complexes. We here analyzed visual pigment biosynthesis in mice deficient for the retinol binding protein receptor STRA6. We observed that chromophore content was decreased throughout the life cycle of these animals, indicating that lipoprotein-dependent delivery pathways for the vitamin cannot substitute for STRA6. Changes in the expression of photoreceptor marker genes, including a down-regulation of the genes encoding rod and cone opsins, paralleled the decrease in ocular retinoid concentration in STRA6-deficient mice. Despite this adaptation, cone photoreceptors displayed absent or mislocalized opsins at all ages examined. Rod photoreceptors entrapped the available chromophore but exhibited significant amounts of chromophore-free opsins in the dark-adapted stage. Treatment of mice with pharmacological doses of vitamin A ameliorated the rod phenotype but did not restore visual pigment synthesis in cone photoreceptors of STRA6-deficient mice. The imbalance between chromophore and opsin concentrations of rod and cone photoreceptors was associated with an unfavorable retinal physiology, including diminished electrical responses of photoreceptors to light, and retinal degeneration during aging. Together, our study demonstrates that STRA6 is critical to adjust the stoichiometry of chromophore and opsins in rod cone photoreceptors and to prevent pathologies associated with ocular vitamin A deprivation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-327
Author(s):  
M. Azuma ◽  
K. Azuma

To investigate the regeneration of visual pigment, the changes in composition and quantity of retinoids were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Eye cups or eye cup sections of dark-adapted frogs were exposed to light (greater than 500 nm) and incubated in the dark for several hours (pH 7.4, 27 +/− 1 degree C). Retinoids extracted by the oxime method before and after illumination were analysed by HPLC. In the dark, every eye cup or eye cup section contained 11-cis and all-trans isomers of retinyl palmitate (the proportion of 11-cis was nearly 40%). The amount of retinyl palmitate was 1–1.5 mol equiv of visual pigment. After 80% of the visual pigment had been bleached by illumination, eye cups or eye cup sections were incubated in the dark for 10 h. During the incubation, 70% of the bleached pigment was regenerated, and the proportion of 11-cis retinyl ester decreased from 40% to 13%. These results indicate that stored 11-cis retinyl ester is used for the regeneration. The regeneration rate of A2-pigment (half time = 75 min) was faster than that of A1-pigment (half time = 90 min), consistent with the result of Tsin & Flores' (1986) in vivo experiment with goldfish.


1997 ◽  
Vol 94 (18) ◽  
pp. 9893-9898 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sun ◽  
D. J. Gilbert ◽  
N. G. Copeland ◽  
N. A. Jenkins ◽  
J. Nathans

1978 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1920-1923 ◽  
Author(s):  
M G DeRuyter ◽  
A P De Leenheer

Abstract We propose a single-run liquid-chromatographic determination, with ultraviolet detection at 330 nm, for serum retinol and retinyl esters. The vitamin A derivatives are extracted according to the Bligh-Dyer procedure. With 200 microliter or serum, the lower detection limit is 50 microgram/liter for retinol and about 100 microgram/liter for retinyl esters. Within-run precision (CV) was 2.3% for retinol, 4.3% for retinyl palmitate. Day-to-day percision (CV, n = 20) for retinol was 4.9% during a month. The method can be used for the assessment of vitamin A absorption tests and for the determination of serum retinol (normal, subnormal, and above-normal concentrations). Serum retinyl esters can only be measured in conditions where concentrations exceed 100 microgram/liter.


2017 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 844-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Sheridan ◽  
Nicholas P. Boyer ◽  
Rosalie K. Crouch ◽  
Yiannis Koutalos

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document