Loss of Crsp34/Med27 decreases amacrine cell number, but increases the number of rod photoreceptor cells.

The outer segment of the rod photoreceptor cell in the human eye is connected to its cell body with a specialized non-motile cilium.

(9) A prominent early clinical feature of retinitis pigmentosa is the loss of night vision as a result of death of rod photoreceptor cells.

(10)(24) These mutations affect rhodopsin transport to the outer segments of rod photoreceptor cells, rhodopsin folding, and rhodopsin endocytosis.

Rod opsins (rhodopsins, usually denoted Rh), are used in night vision, are thermally stable, and are found in the rod photoreceptor cells.

RP begins with death of rod photoreceptor cells, which are the only cells in the retina to express rhodopsin and which express it as their most abundant protein.

The outer and inner segments of vertebrate retina rod photoreceptor cells contain phosducin, a soluble phosphoprotein that complexes with the beta/gamma-subunits of the guanosine triphosphate-binding protein, transducin.

The genes also play a role in the development and stability of the retina by influencing the structure and function of both the rod photoreceptor cells and supporting cells called the retinal pigmented epithelium.

This is because both rods and cones are active at once in the eye, with each having different sensitivity spectra and rod photoreceptor cells taking over gradually from cone cells as the brightness of the scene is reduced.

For example, rod photoreceptor cells, which are exquisitely sensitive and capable of single photon detection, are very sluggish, with time constants in mammals of about 200 ms. Cones, in contrast, while having much lower intensity sensitivity have much better time resolution than rods do.