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Cell and Developmental Biology

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Melanopsin

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Circadian Behavioral Responses To Light And Optic Chiasm-Evoked Glutamatergic Epscs In The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Of Iprgc Conditional Vglut2 Knock-Out Mice, Michael G. Moldavan, Patricia J. Sollars, Michael R. Lasarev, Charles N. Allen, Gary E. Pickard Jan 2018

Circadian Behavioral Responses To Light And Optic Chiasm-Evoked Glutamatergic Epscs In The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Of Iprgc Conditional Vglut2 Knock-Out Mice, Michael G. Moldavan, Patricia J. Sollars, Michael R. Lasarev, Charles N. Allen, Gary E. Pickard

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) innervate the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a circadian oscillator that functions as a biological clock. ipRGCs use vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (vGlut2) to package glutamate into synaptic vesicles and light-evoked resetting of the SCN circadian clock is widely attributed to ipRGC glutamatergic neurotransmission. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is also packaged into vesicles in ipRGCs and PACAP may be coreleased with glutamate in the SCN. vGlut2 has been conditionally deleted in ipRGCs in mice [conditional knock-outs (cKOs)] and their aberrant photoentrainment and residual attenuated light responses have been ascribed to ipRGC PACAP release. However, …


Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells, Gary E. Pickard, Patricia J. Sollars Jan 2011

Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells, Gary E. Pickard, Patricia J. Sollars

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) respond to light in the absence of all rod and cone photoreceptor input. The existence of these ganglion cell photoreceptors, although predicted from observations scattered over many decades, was not established until it was shown that a novel photopigment, melanopsin, was expressed in retinal ganglion cells of rodents and primates. Phototransduction in mammalian ipRGCs more closely resembles that of invertebrate than vertebrate photoreceptors and appears to be mediated by transient receptor potential channels. In the retina, ipRGCs provide excitatory drive to dopaminergic amacrine cells and ipRGCs are coupled to GABAergic amacrine cells via gap …


Intraretinal Signaling By Ganglion Cell Photoreceptors To Dopaminergic Amacrine Neurons, Dao-Qi Zhang, Kwoon Y. Wong, Patricia J. Sollars, David M. Berson, Gary E. Pickard, Douglas G. Mcmahon Sep 2008

Intraretinal Signaling By Ganglion Cell Photoreceptors To Dopaminergic Amacrine Neurons, Dao-Qi Zhang, Kwoon Y. Wong, Patricia J. Sollars, David M. Berson, Gary E. Pickard, Douglas G. Mcmahon

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Retinal dopaminergic amacrine neurons (DA neurons) play a central role in reconfiguring retinal function according to prevailing illumination conditions, yet the mechanisms by which light regulates their activity are poorly understood. We investigated the means by which sustained light responses are evoked in DA neurons. Sustained light responses were driven by cationic currents and persisted in vitro and in vivo in the presence of L-AP4, a blocker of retinal ON-bipolar cells. Several characteristics of these L-AP4-resistant light responses suggested that they were driven by melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), including long latencies, marked poststimulus persistence, and a peak …


Light-Evoked Calcium Responses Of Isolated Melanopsin- Expressing Retinal Ganglion Cells, Andrew T. E. Hartwick, Jayne R. Bramley, Jianing Yu, Kelly T. Stevens, Charles N. Allen, William H. Baldridge, Patricia J. Sollars, Gary E. Pickard Dec 2007

Light-Evoked Calcium Responses Of Isolated Melanopsin- Expressing Retinal Ganglion Cells, Andrew T. E. Hartwick, Jayne R. Bramley, Jianing Yu, Kelly T. Stevens, Charles N. Allen, William H. Baldridge, Patricia J. Sollars, Gary E. Pickard

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

A small number (<2%) of mammalian retinal ganglion cells express the photopigment melanopsin and are intrinsically photosensitive (ipRGCs). Light depolarizes ipRGCs and increases intracellular calcium levels ( [Ca2+]i ) but the signaling cascades underlying these responses have yet to be elucidated. To facilitate physiological studies on these rare photoreceptors, highly enriched ipRGC cultures from neonatal rats were generated using anti-melanopsin-mediated plate adhesion (immunopanning). This novel approach enabled experiments on isolated ipRGCs, eliminating the potential confounding influence of rod/cone-driven input. Light induced a rise in [Ca2+]i (monitored using fura-2 imaging) in the immunopanned ipRGCs and the source of this Ca2+ signal was investigated. The Ca2+ responses were inhibited by 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, SKF-96365 (1–2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-[3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propoxy]ethyl-1H-imidazole), flufenamic acid, …