The retina is a layer of nervous tissue at the back of the eye that transduces light into neural signals. This process, called phototransduction, is carried out by rod and cone photoreceptor cells in the back of the retina.
Photoreceptors have outer segments with stacks of membranous disks that contain photopigment molecules—such as rhodopsin in rods. The photopigments absorb light, triggering a cascade of molecular events that results in the cell becoming hyperpolarized (with a more...