Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24707049›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014

ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCA4 and chemical isomerization protect photoreceptor cells from the toxic accumulation of excess 11-cis-retinal.

Faraz Quazi, Robert S Molday

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
81citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% 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

81 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 124 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. More insights from Abca4The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026
    Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Advances and therapeutic opportunities in visual cycle modulation.Progress in retinal and eye research · 2025
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Vitamin A supply in the eye and establishment of the visual cycle.Current topics in developmental biology · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Primary versus Secondary Elevations in Fundus Autofluorescence.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023
    Review

21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Faraz QuaziDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre for Macular Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
Robert S Molday
University of British Columbia · CA

Funding

STRUCTURE/FUNCTION OF ROS PLASMA MEMBRANE PROTEINSR01EY002422 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA · PI MOLDAY, ROBERT S · 1985 to 2017
$3.5M
NEI NIH HHS EY02422NEI NIH HHS R01 EY002422
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The visual cycle is a series of enzyme-catalyzed reactions which converts all-trans-retinal to 11-cis-retinal for the regeneration of visual pigments in rod and cone photoreceptor cells. Although essential for vision, 11-cis-retinal like all-trans-retinal is highly toxic due to its highly reactive aldehyde group and has to be detoxified by either reduction to retinol or sequestration within retinal-binding proteins. Previous studies have focused on the role of the ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCA4 associated with Stargardt macular degeneration and retinol dehydrogenases (RDH) in the clearance of all-trans-retinal from photoreceptors following photoexcitation. How rod and cone cells prevent the accumulation of 11-cis-retinal in photoreceptor disk membranes in excess of what is required for visual pigment regeneration is not known. Here we show that ABCA4 can transport N-11-cis-retinylidene-phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), the Schiff-base conjugate of 11-cis-retinal and PE, from the lumen to the cytoplasmic leaflet of disk membranes. This transport function together with chemical isomerization to its all-trans isomer and reduction to all-trans-retinol by RDH can prevent the accumulation of excess 11-cis-retinal and its Schiff-base conjugate and the formation of toxic bisretinoid compounds as found in ABCA4-deficient mice and individuals with Stargardt macular degeneration. This segment of the visual cycle in which excess 11-cis-retinal is converted to all-trans-retinol provides a rationale for the unusually high content of PE and its long-chain unsaturated docosahexaenoyl group in photoreceptor membranes and adds insight into the molecular mechanisms responsible for Stargardt macular degeneration.

Indexed as

Adenosine TriphosphateAnimalsATP-Binding Cassette TransportersBiological TransportCattleCytoprotectionIsomerismMiceModels, BiologicalPhosphatidylcholinesPhosphatidylethanolaminesPhotoreceptor Cells, VertebrateProteolipidsRetinoidsRod Cell Outer SegmentSus scrofa1,2-dioleoyl-glycero-3-phosphatidyl ethanolamine1,2-oleoylphosphatidylcholineAdenosine TriphosphateATP-Binding Cassette TransportersN-retinylidene-phosphatidylethanolaminePhosphatidylcholinesPhosphatidylethanolaminesProteolipidsproteoliposomesRetinoidsVitamin AABC transportersphotoreceptor degenerationretinal pigment epithelial cellsretinoidsStargardt disease

Identifiers

PMID24707049
PMCPMC3977269
OpenAlexW2035143113

What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.