▪ I. retinal, n. Biochem.
(ˈrɛtɪnæl)
[f. retina + -al2.]
= retinene; usu. spec. vitamin A1 aldehyde. Also retiˈnaldehyde in the same sense.
| 1944 Morton & Goodwin in Nature 1 Apr. 406/1 The elegance and accuracy of Wald's work on retinal extracts makes us hesitate to suggest that the term retinene is inappropriate. Unfortunately, it suggests a retinal carotenoid... Perhaps retinaldehyde is more appropriate than retinal. 1960 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LXXXII. 5581/1 The pure substance hitherto known as retinene shall be designated retinal. 1963 Nature 30 Mar. 1279/1 In accordance with recent recommendations of the Committee on Nomenclature of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, we shall use hereafter the following terminology: for vitamin A, ‘retinol’; for vitamin A aldehyde (retinene), ‘retinal’ or ‘retinaldehyde’; for vitamin A acid, ‘retinoic acid’. 1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) xl. 902 Upon bleaching, rhodopsin dissociates to yield the protein, opsin, and a carotenoid, retinal (formerly retinene or vitamin A1-aldehyde). 1969 Nature 1 Feb. 432/1 Retinaldehyde forms a Schiff base with an aliphatic amino-group on opsin. 1976 Sci. Amer. June 42/2 Retinal, complexed with various proteins, or opsins, is the chromophore of all visual pigments in animals. |
▪ II. retinal, a.
(ˈrɛtɪnəl)
[f. retina + -al1.]
Pertaining or relating to the retina.
| 1838 Penny Cycl. X. 138/2 There is no doubt of the existence of the retinal membrane, which was discovered by Dr. Jacob of Dublin. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §5 It is immaterial whether the retinal presentations be two..or thousands. 1872 Huxley Physiol. ix. 223 The red lines are the retinal blood-vessels. |
Hence ˈretinally adv., with respect to or by means of the retina.
| 1970 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXII. 228 The results clearly indicate that retinally disorienting novel outline shapes from training to test does not lead to recognition disturbances. 1974 Sci. Amer. Jan. 79/1 Tilted-head subjects recognized the environmentally upright (but retinally tilted) figures about as well as the upright observers did. 1980 Ibid. Jan. 92/3 In normal three-dimensional viewing it is quite irrelevant whether or not a baseboard is retinally collinear with a molding. |
Add: b. retinal detachment Path., a condition in which the surface of the retina becomes detached from the underlying layer of epithelium, producing a scotoma. Cf. detached retina s.v. *detached ppl. a. 2.
| 1882 W. A. Brailey in Trans. Ophthalm. Soc. II. 91, I originally called it ‘a case of retinal detachment’ which was wrongly attributed to the presence of a choroidal sarcoma. 1965 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalm. LX. 191/1 The introduction of scleral buckling procedures opened new avenues of approach in the treatment of retinal detachments previously considered of unfavorable prognosis. 1987 Investigative Ophthalm. & Visual Sci. XXVIII. 2038/1 Little is known of the effects of retinal detachment upon the physiology and metabolism of the neural retina. |