Surprisingly, while BAPTA-AM led to photoreceptor cell death in rd1*Cngb1−/− retina, perhaps due to Ca2+ depletion, NCX inhibition in the rd1*Cngb1−/− situation attenuated retinal degeneration, indicating that NCX is in forward mode when CNGC activity is low. This evidence concerns the gene TLX2 and retinal degeneration.