rhodopsinn.
/rə(ʊ)ˈdɒpsɪn/, U.S. /roʊˈdɑpsən/ Biochemistry.
A purplish-red pigment found in the rod cells of the retina in humans and most other vertebrates, consisting of a protein (opsin) combined with retinal. Also called visual purple.Rhodopsin undergoes conformational changes and dissociates after exposure to light, resulting in a cascade of reactions culminating in the generation of a nerve impulse.
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rhodophane1878
rhodopsin1878
visual purple1878
lumirhodopsin1950
metarhodopsin1950
prelumirhodopsin1963
1878 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 76 193 They conclude, however, that the colour is purple, and name the colour-giving material Rhodopsin.
1886 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 50 375 After a frog has been poisoned by pilocarpin, the regeneration of rhodopsin in the dark after exposure to light is hastened.
1937 Nature 12 June 1018/1 In every detail so far examined, the porphyropsin system faithfully reproduces the behaviour of the rhodopsin system, but with quite different components.
1959 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 13) iii. 26 Rhodopsin is a chromoprotein, the molecule of which consists of a reactive part, a chromophore, responsible for the preferential absorption of light, attached to a protein which acts essentially as a support.
1976 Sci. Amer. July 108/1 In all animals, invertebrates and vertebrates alike, the visual pigment rhodopsin is present in the photoreceptor membrane of the visual cells.
2005 R. Macfarlane in Granta Summer 222 Once the body detects diminished light levels, it begins generating a photosensitive chemical called rhodopsin, which builds up in the rod cells in a process known as dark adaptation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1878