Fast intrinsic optical signal correlates with activation phase of phototransduction in retinal photoreceptors.

As the center of phototransduction, retinal photoreceptors are responsible for capturing and converting photon energy to bioelectric signals for following visual information processing in the retina. This article summarizes experimental observation and discusses biophysical mechanism of fast photoreceptor-intrinsic optical signal (IOS) correlated with early phase of phototransduction. Quantitative imaging of fast photoreceptor-IOS may provide objective optoretinography to advance the study and diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy, and other eye diseases that can cause photoreceptor dysfunctions.