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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Apr 8.
Published in final edited form as: Biochem (Lond). 2020 Oct 9;42(5):44–50. doi: 10.1042/BIO20200067

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

(a) 11-cis-retinal is associated with rhodopsin in rod outer segments in the dark. When exposed to light, this retinoid undergoes stereoisomerization to all trans-retinal to form the Meta II form of the protein. Eventually, all-trans-retinal is released from rhodopsin and processed to all-trans-retinol. (b) All-trans-retinol is transferred to the RPE, where regeneration of 11-cis-retinal occurs. Abbreviations of retinoid compounds: All-trans-RAL, all-trans-retinal; All-trans-ROL, all-trans-retinol; All-trans-RE, All-trans-retinylester; 11-cis-ROL, 11-cis-retinol; 11-cis-RAL, 11-cis-retinal. Abbreviations of enzymes involved in retinoid synthesis: RDH8, retinal dehydrogenase 8; RDH12, retinal dehydrogenase 12; LRAT, lecithin retinol acyltransferase; RPE65, retinyl pigment epithelium-specific protein 65; RDH5, retinal dehydrogenase 5. Adapted from Ortega and Jastrzebska (2019) Int. J. Mol. Sci. 20, 6218.