A 52-year-old man presents to the eye clinic with painless vision loss of his right eye. He describes the visual loss as a gradual progression from blurry to total blackout over the past two hours. He has no history of prior visual problems. Past medical history is significant for a myocardial infarction three years ago. The patient takes 70mg of aspirin daily. Vital signs are normal. Physical examination reveals 20/20 vision of the left eye but no vision in the right eye. Extraocular muscles are intact. The neurologic examination is normal. The cardiac examination reveals an S4 hea sound. At the molecular level, which of the following components is essential for the first step of the visual cascade?
High-Yield Explanation
The visual cascade: 11-cis-retinal + opsin -> rhodopsin + light -> meta-rhodopsin II. Meta-rhodopsin II dissociates after light exposure to form all-trans-retinal. 11-cis retinal and opsin are essential first steps in generating the photochemical visual cascade. All-cis-retinal is not a pa of the visual cascade. All-trans-retinal, meta-rhodopsin II, rhodopsin is a later pa of the visual cascade: 11-cis-retinal + opsin -> rhodopsin + light -> meta-rhodopsin II. Meta-rhodopsin II dissociates after light exposure to form all-trans-retinal. 11-cis retinal and opsin are essential first steps in generating the photochemical visual cascade.