NIH explores essential step in retinal "recharge"

A recent discovery by a National Institutes of Health laboratory has uncovered one of the mysteries behind the eye: how proteins involved with the retina convert Vitamin A input into a form that the eye’s photoreceptors can use. Researchers have known about the ability of the retina to recover from optical stimulation but haven’t explored it as in depth as recently.

The NIH recently reported that a previously unknown region of the optical protein known as the RPE65 changes to become spiral-shaped when it comes into contact with intracellular membranes.

The change that RPE65 encounters enables it to go into the endoplasmic reticulum!