Search
Abstract
The functioning of the human eye in the extreme range of light intensity requires a combination of the high sensitivity of photoreceptors with their photostability. Here, we identify a regulatory mechanism based on dynamic modulation of light absorption by xanthophylls in the retina, realized by reorientation of pigment molecules induced by trans–cis photoisomerization. We explore this photochemically switchable system using chromatographic analysis coupled with microimaging based on fluorescence lifetime and Raman scattering, showing it at work in both isolated human retina and model lipid membranes. The molecular mechanism underlying xanthophyll reorientation is explained in terms of hydrophobic mismatch using molecular dynamics simulations. Overall, we show that xanthophylls in the human retina act as “molecular blinds”, opening and closing on a submillisecond timescale to dynamically control the intensity of light reaching the photoreceptors, thus enabling vision at a very low light intensity and protecting the retina from photodegradation when suddenly exposed to strong light.
Citations
-
1 3
CrossRef
-
0
Web of Science
-
1 4
Scopus
Authors (15)
-
Rafal Luchowski
-
Wojciech Grudzinski
-
Renata Welc
-
Maria Manuela Mendes Pinto
-
Alicja Sek
-
Jan Ostrowski
-
Karol Sowinski
-
Robert Rejdak
-
Anselm G. M. Juenemann
-
Grzegorz Teresinski
-
Wieslaw Gruszecki
Cite as
Full text
- Publication version
- Accepted or Published Version
- License
-
open in new tab
Keywords
Details
- Category:
- Articles
- Type:
- artykuły w czasopismach
- Published in:
-
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
no. 125,
pages 6090 - 6102,
ISSN: 1520-6106 - Language:
- English
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Bibliographic description:
- Luchowski R., Grudzinski W., Welc R., Mendes Pinto M. M., Sek A., Ostrowski J., Nierzwicki Ł., Chodnicki P., Wieczór M., Sowinski K., Rejdak R., Juenemann A. G. M., Teresinski G., Czub J., Gruszecki W.: Light-Modulated Sunscreen Mechanism in the Retina of the Human Eye// JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B -Vol. 125,iss. 23 (2021), s.6090-6102
- DOI:
- Digital Object Identifier (open in new tab) 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01198
- Verified by:
- Gdańsk University of Technology
seen 239 times
Recommended for you
Localization and Orientation of Xanthophylls in a Lipid Bilayer
- G. Wojciech,
- Ł. Nierzwicki,
- R. Welc
- + 5 authors
In vivo imaging of the human eye using a two-photon excited fluorescence scanning laser ophthalmoscope
- J. Boguslawski,
- G. Palczewska,
- S. Tomczewski
- + 13 authors
Mechanism of reaction of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from SARS-CoV-2
- J. Aranda,
- M. Wieczór,
- M. Terrazas
- + 2 authors