March 2012
Volume 53, Issue 14
Free
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   March 2012
Melanopsin-like Photopigment Expression In Adult Mammal Brain
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Marcelino Aviles-Trigueros
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Francisca Matínez-Garrido
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Francisco Nadal-Nicolás
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
    Unidad de Investigacion, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Fundacion para la Formacion e Investigacion Sanitarias de la Region de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Marta Agudo-Barriuso
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
    Unidad de Investigacion, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Fundacion para la Formacion e Investigacion Sanitarias de la Region de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Inmaculada Selles-Navarro
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Manuel Vidal-Sanz
    Laboratorio de Oftalmologia Experimental, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships  Marcelino Aviles-Trigueros, None; Francisca Matínez-Garrido, None; Francisco Nadal-Nicolás, None; Marta Agudo-Barriuso, None; Inmaculada Selles-Navarro, None; Manuel Vidal-Sanz, None
  • Footnotes
    Support  Fundación Séneca 04446/GERM/07; Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation SAF2009-10385; Spanish Ministry of Health ISCIII RD07/0062/0001, ISCIII-FEDER PI10/00187.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science March 2012, Vol.53, 4336. doi:
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      Marcelino Aviles-Trigueros, Francisca Matínez-Garrido, Francisco Nadal-Nicolás, Marta Agudo-Barriuso, Inmaculada Selles-Navarro, Manuel Vidal-Sanz; Melanopsin-like Photopigment Expression In Adult Mammal Brain. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2012;53(14):4336.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose: : Melanopsin is a novel non-canonical photopigment present in a subset of retinal ganglion cells in the mammal’s eye which is responsible for several light mediated physiological functions (including circadian entrainment) that are not related to image forming vision. In non-mammalian vertebrates, melanopsin is expressed in both ocular and non-ocular photoreceptors; however, mammalian melanopsin is restricted to the cell bodies, dendrites and proximal axons of melanopsin containing retinal cells. The aim of this research is to investigate melanopsin expression in the adult mammalian brain.

Methods: : To investigate the presence of melanopsin expressing cell bodies and projections, serial coronal sections from the brain of adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were obtained in the cryostat and processed for immunohistochemistry with commercial polyclonal antibodies against the melanopsin C- or N-terminal sequences. Western blots of protein extracts from retina, cortex, brainstem, or cerebellum homogenates were probed with the same antisera to detect melanopsin expression.

Results: : Immunohistochemistry shows a strong and specific expression of melanopsin in the brain, with high expression in selected areas of the hypothalamus such as the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, the supraoptic nucleus, the paraventricular nucleus, the median eminence, and the infundibular stem, all of which form part of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis. Some of these areas receive direct innervation from melanopsin retinal ganglion cells, including the suprachiasmatic nucleus (Hattar et al, J Comp Neurol 2006, 497:326). In addition, western blotting detected melanopsin expression in other regions of the brain such as the cortex, brainstem, and cerebellum.

Conclusions: : This is the first time that melanopsin expression is identified in the mammalian brain where it may play a role in nonimage forming visual functions.

Keywords: circadian rhythms • comparative anatomy • immunohistochemistry 
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