Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34508587›Full record

ArticleHuman molecular genetics2022

The vitamin A transporter STRA6 adjusts the stoichiometry of chromophore and opsins in visual pigment synthesis and recycling.

Srinivasagan Ramkumar, Vipul M Parmar, Ivy Samuels, Nathan A Berger, Beata Jastrzebska, Johannes von Lintig

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human molecular genetics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 24% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Loss of the vitamin A receptor RBPR2 in mice disrupts whole-body retinoid homeostasis and the quantitative balance regulating retinylidene protein synthesis.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025
    Article
  3. Vitamin A supply in the eye and establishment of the visual cycle.Current topics in developmental biology · 2025
    Review
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Srinivasagan RamkumarDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2542-1501
Vipul M ParmarDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Ivy SamuelsNortheast Ohio VA Healthcare System, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Nathan A BergerCenter for Science, Health and Society, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Beata JastrzebskaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Johannes von LintigDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2079-2143
Case Western Reserve University · USVA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System · US

Funding

Scientific TransparencyP30EY001583 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI CLAIRE H MITCHELL · 1985 to 2026
$19.5M
TISSUE CULTURE AND HYBRIDOMA MODULEP30EY011373 · NEI · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI Irina A Pikuleva · 1997 to 2026
$17.7M
STRA6 and Ocular Vitamin A HomeostasisR01EY028121 · NEI · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI Johannes Friedrich von Lintig · 2018 to 2026
$4.3M
Leica SP8 Confocal with Hyvolution2 DeconvolutionS10OD024996 · OD · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI IMANISHI, YOSHIKAZU · 2018 to 2018
$594k
NEI NIH HHS P30 EY001583NEI NIH HHS P30 EY011373NEI NIH HHS R01 EY028121NIH HHS S10 OD024996
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The retinal pigment epithelium of the vertebrate eyes acquires vitamin A from circulating retinol binding protein for chromophore biosynthesis. The chromophore covalently links with an opsin protein in the adjacent photoreceptors of the retina to form the bipartite visual pigment complexes. We here analyzed visual pigment biosynthesis in mice deficient for the retinol-binding protein receptor STRA6. We observed that chromophore content was decreased throughout the life cycle of these animals, indicating that lipoprotein-dependent delivery pathways for the vitamin cannot substitute for STRA6. Changes in the expression of photoreceptor marker genes, including a downregulation of the genes encoding rod and cone opsins, paralleled the decrease in ocular retinoid concentration in STRA6-deficient mice. Despite this adaptation, cone photoreceptors displayed absent or mislocalized opsins at all ages examined. Rod photoreceptors entrapped the available chromophore but exhibited significant amounts of chromophore-free opsins in the dark-adapted stage. Treatment of mice with pharmacological doses of vitamin A ameliorated the rod phenotype but did not restore visual pigment synthesis in cone photoreceptors of STRA6-deficient mice. The imbalance between chromophore and opsin concentrations of rod and cone photoreceptors was associated with an unfavorable retinal physiology, including diminished electrical responses of photoreceptors to light, and retinal degeneration during aging. Together, our study demonstrates that STRA6 is critical to adjust the stoichiometry of chromophore and opsins in rod and cone photoreceptors and to prevent pathologies associated with ocular vitamin A deprivation.

Indexed as

Cone OpsinsRetinal PigmentsAnimalsMembrane ProteinsMiceOpsinsRetinal Cone Photoreceptor CellsRetinaldehydeRod OpsinsVitamin ACone OpsinsMembrane ProteinsOpsinsRetinaldehydeRetinal PigmentsRod OpsinsStra6 protein, mouseVitamin A

Identifiers

PMID34508587
PMCPMC8863423
OpenAlexW3198040159

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.