Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2025
Abstract
Light perception is a biological process that facilitates a profound interaction between the external world and the internal functions of living organisms. It begins with the absorption of photons with specialized visual pigments that contain vitamin A-derived chromophores. The light energy triggers the photoisomerization of the visual chromophore, initiating a cascade of signaling events that ultimately convert light into electrical signals interpreted as vision. However, the sustainability of vision relies on the continuous supply of the visual chromophore, which is maintained through light-dependent and light-independent processes. The importance of these processes is underscored by numerous blinding retinal diseases linked to impaired regeneration of the chromophore. Thus, research into the molecular mechanisms of visual chromophore biosynthesis has not only deepened our understanding of the organization of visual systems but also uncovered the etiologies of these debilitating diseases. In this review, we synthesize recent progress in understanding the mechanisms responsible for visual chromophore biosynthesis. We examine biological targets, therapeutic strategies, and drug discovery efforts aimed at restoring or bypassing metabolic blockades in visual chromophore regeneration, and assess the progress of clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of therapies for degenerative retinal diseases.
Keywords
11-cis-retinal, retinal degeneration, retinoids, visual chromophore, visual cycle, visual cycle modulators
Language
English
Publication Title
Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Grant
EY023948
Rights
© 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial copying and redistribution of the material in any medium or format, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Swigris, Jaclyn; Widjaja-Adhi, Made Airanthi K.; and Golczak, Marcin, "Retinoid Dynamics in Vision: From Visual Cycle Biology to Retina Disease Treatments" (2025). Faculty Scholarship. 1543.
https://commons.case.edu/facultyworks/1543
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version