Fig. 7.

Detection of 11-cis-6mr-retinal-bound pigment in mouse eyes. 11-cis-6mr-retinal (20 mg/kg b.wt.) was administered to Abca4^−/−Rdh8^−/− or WT mice 30 minute before their exposure to bright light for 30 minutes. After illumination, mice were kept in the dark. This procedure was repeated three times. On the 4th day (24 hours after the third treatment), eyes were harvested, and pigment was purified by 1D4 anti-rhodopsin immunoaffinity chromatography. Additionally, Lrat^−/− mice were injected intraperitoneally with 11-cis-6mr-retinal for three consecutive days, and 24 hours after the last injection, eyes were collected and used for pigment purification. UV-visible spectra of the rhodopsin or rhodopsin/11-cis-6mr-retinal-bound opsin mixture purified from Abca4^−/−Rdh8^−/− mice (A), WT mice (B), or Lrat^−/− mice (C) that were either untreated (black spectrum) or treated with 11-cis-6mr-retinal (green spectrum), left panel. Difference spectra were obtained by subtracting the UV-visible spectrum of the light-illuminated sample from the spectrum recorded in the dark; right panel.