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Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (photosensitive + retinal_ganglion_cell)

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Life Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Loss of photic entrainment at low illuminances in rats with acute photoreceptor degeneration

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 8 2009
Domitille L. Boudard
Abstract In several species, an acute injection of N -methyl- N -nitrosourea (MNU) induces a retinal degeneration characterized principally by a rapid loss of the outer nuclear layer, the other layers remaining structurally intact. It has, however, also been reported that down-regulation of melanopsin gene expression is associated with the degeneration and is detectable soon after injection. Melanopsin is expressed by a small subset of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and plays an important role in circadian behaviour photoentrainment. We injected MNU into Long Evans rats and investigated the ability of animals to entrain to three light/dark cycles of different light intensities (300, 15 and 1 lux). Control animals entrained their locomotor activity rhythms to the three cycles. In contrast, MNU-treated animals could only entrain properly to the 300 lux cycle. For the 15 lux cycle, their phase angle was much altered compared with control animals, and for the 1 lux cycle, MNU-injected animals were unable to photoentrain and exhibited an apparent free-run activity pattern with a period of 24.3 h. Subsequent to behavioural studies the animals were killed and rod, cone, melanopsin expression and melanopsin-expressing cells were quantified. Rod and cone loss was almost complete, melanopsin protein was reduced by 83% and melanopsin-expressing cells were reduced by 37%. Our study provides a comprehensive model of photoreceptor degeneration at the adult stage and a simple and versatile method to investigate the relation between retinal photoreceptors and the circadian system. [source]

Functional Expression, Targeting and Ca2+ Signaling of a Mouse Melanopsin-eYFP Fusion Protein in a Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Line,

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2008
Maikel E. Giesbers
Melanopsin, first discovered in Xenopus melanophores, is now established as a functional sensory photopigment of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. These ganglion cells drive circadian rhythm and pupillary adjustments through projection to the brain. Melanopsin shares structural similarities with all known opsins. Comprehensive characterization of melanopsin with respect to its spectral properties, photochemical cascade and signaling partners requires a suitable recombinant system and high expression levels. This combination has not yet been described. To address this issue, we have expressed recombinant mouse melanopsin in several cell lines. Using enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) as a visualization tag, expression was observed in all cell lines. Confocal microscopy revealed that melanopsin was properly routed to the plasma membrane only in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-derived D407 cells and in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells. Further, we performed intracellular calcium measurements in order to probe the melanopsin signaling activity of this fusion protein. Transfected cells were loaded with the calcium indicator Fura2-AM. Upon illumination, an immediate but transient calcium response was observed in HEK as well as in D407 cells, while mock-transfected cells showed no calcium response under identical conditions. Supplementation with 11- cis retinal or all- trans retinal enhanced the response. After prolonged illumination the cells became desensitized. Thus, RPE-derived cells expressing recombinant melanopsin may constitute a suitable system for the study of the structural and functional characteristics of melanopsin. [source]

Morphology and mosaics of melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cell types in mice

THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, Issue 13 2010
David M. Berson
Abstract Melanopsin is the photopigment of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Melanopsin immunoreactivity reveals two dendritic plexuses within the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and morphologically heterogeneous retinal ganglion cells. Using enhanced immunohistochemistry, we provide a fuller description of murine cell types expressing melanopsin, their contribution to the plexuses of melanopsin dendrites, and mosaics formed by each type. M1 cells, corresponding to the originally described ganglion-cell photoreceptors, occupy the ganglion cell or inner nuclear layers. Their large, sparsely branched arbors (mean diameter 275 ,m) monostratify at the outer limit of the OFF sublayer. M2 cells also have large, monostratified dendritic arbors (mean diameter 310 ,m), but ramify in the inner third of the IPL, within the ON sublayer. There are ,900 M1 cells and 800 M2 cells per retina; each type comprises roughly 1,2% of all ganglion cells. The cell bodies of M1 cells are slightly smaller than those of M2 cells (mean diameters: 13 ,m for M1, 15 ,m for M2). Dendritic field overlap is extensive within each type (coverage factors ,3.8 for M1 and 2.5 for M2 cells). Rare bistratified cells deploy terminal dendrites within both melanopsin-immunoreactive plexuses. Because these are too sparsely distributed to permit complete retinal tiling, they lack a key feature of true ganglion cell types and may be anomalous hybrids of the M1 and M2 types. Finally, we observed weak melanopsin immunoreactivity in other ganglion cells, mostly with large somata, that may constitute one or more additional types of melanopsin-expressing cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:2405,2422, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Morphology and mosaics of melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cell types in mice,

THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, Issue 13 2010
David M. Berson
Abstract Melanopsin is the photopigment of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Melanopsin immunoreactivity reveals two dendritic plexuses within the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and morphologically heterogeneous retinal ganglion cells. Using enhanced immunohistochemistry, we provide a fuller description of murine cell types expressing melanopsin, their contribution to the plexuses of melanopsin dendrites, and mosaics formed by each type. M1 cells, corresponding to the originally described ganglion-cell photoreceptors, occupy the ganglion cell or inner nuclear layers. Their large, sparsely branched arbors (mean diameter 275 ,m) monostratify at the outer limit of the OFF sublayer. M2 cells also have large, monostratified dendritic arbors (mean diameter 310 ,m), but ramify in the inner third of the IPL, within the ON sublayer. There are ,900 M1 cells and 800 M2 cells per retina; each type comprises roughly 1,2% of all ganglion cells. The cell bodies of M1 cells are slightly smaller than those of M2 cells (mean diameters: 13 ,m for M1, 15 ,m for M2). Dendritic field overlap is extensive within each type (coverage factors ,3.8 for M1 and 4.6 for M2 cells). Rare bistratified cells deploy terminal dendrites within both melanopsin-immunoreactive plexuses. Because these are too sparsely distributed to permit complete retinal tiling, they lack a key feature of true ganglion cell types and may be anomalous hybrids of the M1 and M2 types. Finally, we observed weak melanopsin immunoreactivity in other ganglion cells, mostly with large somata, that may constitute one or more additional types of melanopsin-expressing cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:2405,2422, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]