Blue light induced retinal oxidative stress: Implications for macular degeneration

Abstract

Core tip: The role of blue light and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of retinal degenerative diseases like age related macular degeneration is still under debate. Recent studies including ours have demonstrated that all molecules of the respiratory chain are present in the outer segment of the photoreceptors-also being the source of reactive oxygen species-even more than the reactive oxygen species production in inner segment mitochondria. These two new findings have also important implications for many degenerative diseases of the retina. In this respect we revisited the literature regarding the photoreceptor reactions after blue light and radical stress.