Quantitative assessment of physiological condition of retinal photoreceptors is desirable for better detection and treatment evaluation of eye diseases that can cause photoreceptor dysfunctions. Functional intrinsic optical signal (IOS) imaging, also termed as optoretinography (ORG) or optophysiology, has been proposed as a high-resolution method for objective assessment of retinal physiology. Fast IOS in retinal photoreceptors shows a time course earlier than that of electroretinography a-wave, promising an objective marker for noninvasive ORG of early phototransduction process in retinal photoreceptors. In this article, recent observations of fast photoreceptor-IOS in animal and human retinas are summarized, and the correlation of fast photoreceptor-IOS to five steps of phototransduction process is discussed. Transient outer segment conformational change, due to inter-disc space shrinkage correlated with activation phase of phototransduction, has been disclosed as a primary source of the fast photoreceptor-IOS.

Impact statement

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.

中文翻译：

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快速固有光信号与视网膜感光器中光转导的激活阶段相关。

对视网膜感光器的生理状况进行定量评估有助于更好地检测和评估可能导致感光器功能障碍的眼部疾病。功能性内在光信号（IOS）成像，也称为视视网膜成像（ORG）或光生理学，已被提议作为客观评估视网膜生理学的高分辨率方法。视网膜感光器中的快速 IOS 显示出比视网膜电图 a 波更早的时间进程，有望成为视网膜感光器中早期光转导过程的非侵入性 ORG 的客观标记。本文总结了动物和人类视网膜中快速光感受器-IOS的最新观察结果，并讨论了快速光感受器-IOS与光转导过程五个步骤的相关性。由于与光转导激活阶段相关的盘间空间收缩，瞬时外节构象变化已被公开为快速光感受器-IOS的主要来源。

 影响报告

作为光转导的中心，视网膜感光器负责捕获光子能量并将其转换为生物电信号，以供视网膜进行视觉信息处理。本文总结了实验观察并讨论了与光转导早期相关的快速光感受器固有光信号（IOS）的生物物理机制。快速光感受器-IOS的定量成像可以提供客观的视视网膜成像，以推进年龄相关性黄斑变性、色素性视网膜炎、糖尿病视网膜病变和其他可能导致光感受器功能障碍的眼部疾病的研究和诊断。