**Acknowledgements**

*Visual Impairment and Blindness - What We Know and What We Have to Know*

lipid peroxidation may alter the arrangement of proteins in bilayers and by that it interferes with their physiological role on the membrane function. Here, we review several studies on the lipid peroxidation of membrane phospholipids in retina. Particular emphasis is placed on the molecular changes of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids associated with protein modifications during peroxidation of

*Schematic diagram of rhodopsin in the membrane of the photoreceptor cell. Taken from: The International* 

I started researching lipids almost six decades ago. My main interest was focused on the study of fatty acids. From 1990 up to now, our laboratory has been interested in the lipid peroxidation of biological membranes from various tissues and different species as well as liposomes prepared with phospholipids rich in PUFAs, as a consequence and considering that the retina is a tissue with enormous amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, our studies focused on the lipid peroxidation of photoreceptor membranes. In our first study, it was investigated if soluble-binding proteins for fatty acids (FABPs) present in neural retina show protection from in vitro lipoperoxidation of rod outer segment membranes (ROS). [1] Also we studied the effect of alpha-tocopherol, all-trans retinol, and retinyl palmitate on the

Retina is highly susceptible to oxidative damage due to its high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), mainly docosahexaenoic acid (22:6 n3). Lipid peroxidation process is thought to be involved in many physiological and pathological events. Many model membranes can be used to learn more about issues that cannot be studied in biological membranes. Sonicated liposomes (SL) and non-sonicated liposomes (NSL) prepared with lipids isolated from bovine retina and characterized

photoreceptor membranes **Figure 1**.

*Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. 2006; 38(9):1482-95.*

**Figure 1.**

**4. My participation in studies with photoreceptor**

nonenzymatic lipid peroxidation of rod outer segments [2].

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Studies in the author laboratory were supported by PIP 2008-0157 and PIP 4097, granted to AC National Research Council (CONICET) and Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) PICT-13399 and bilateral Grant HU/PA03-BI/008.
