Publication Date:
2003-01-11
Description:
In the mammalian retina, a small subset of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are intrinsically photosensitive, express the opsin-like protein melanopsin, and project to brain nuclei involved in non-image-forming visual functions such as pupillary light reflex and circadian photoentrainment. We report that in mice with the melanopsin gene ablated, RGCs retrograde-labeled from the suprachiasmatic nuclei were no longer intrinsically photosensitive, although their number, morphology, and projections were unchanged. These animals showed a pupillary light reflex indistinguishable from that of the wild type at low irradiances, but at high irradiances the reflex was incomplete, a pattern that suggests that the melanopsin-associated system and the classical rod/cone system are complementary in function.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lucas, R J -- Hattar, S -- Takao, M -- Berson, D M -- Foster, R G -- Yau, K-W -- R01 EY006837/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY006837-16A1/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY014596/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY014596-01/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R37 EY006837/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R37 EY006837-13/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R37 EY006837-14/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R37 EY006837-15/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R37 EY006837-15S1/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2003 Jan 10;299(5604):245-7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Integrative and Molecular Neuroscience, Division of Neuroscience and Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Campus, St. Dunstans Road, London W6 8RF, UK. r.j.lucas@ic.ac.uk〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12522249" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Adaptation, Ocular
;
Animals
;
Carbachol/pharmacology
;
Circadian Rhythm
;
Darkness
;
*Light
;
Light Signal Transduction
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred C57BL
;
Mice, Knockout
;
Olivary Nucleus/cytology/physiology
;
Phenotype
;
Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate/physiology
;
Pupil/drug effects/*physiology
;
*Reflex, Pupillary
;
Retinal Degeneration/genetics/physiopathology
;
Retinal Ganglion Cells/*physiology
;
Rod Opsins/*genetics/*physiology
;
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus/physiology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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