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Expression of circadian clock genes in retinal dopaminergic cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2007

RONALD DORENBOS ,
MASSIMO CONTINI ,
HAJIME HIRASAWA ,
STEFANO GUSTINCICH  and
ELIO RAVIOLA
RONALD DORENBOS
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
MASSIMO CONTINI
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Università di Firenze, Dipartimento di Anatomia, Istologia e Medicina Ljegale, Italy
HAJIME HIRASAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
STEFANO GUSTINCICH
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Neurobiology, SISSA/ISAS, Trieste, Italy
ELIO RAVIOLA
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
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Abstract

The mammalian neural retina contains single or multiple intrinsic circadian oscillators that can be directly entrained by light cycles. Dopaminergic amacrine (DA) cells represent an especially interesting candidate as a site of the retinal oscillator because of the crucial role of dopamine in light adaptation, and the widespread distribution of dopamine receptors in the retina. We hereby show by single-cell, end-point RT-PCR that retinal DA cells contain the transcripts for six core components of the circadian clock: Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Cry2, Per1, and Per2. Rod photoreceptors represented a negative control, because they did not appear to contain clock transcripts. We finally confirmed that DA cells contain the protein encoded by the Bmal1 gene by comparing immunostaining of the nuclei of DA cells in the retinas of wildtype and Bmal1−/− mice. It is therefore likely that DA cells contain a circadian clock that anticipates predictable variations in retinal illumination.

Keywords

RetinaCircadian ClockDopaminergic Amacrine CellsSingle-Cell RT-PCRImmunocytochemistry
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , July 2007 , pp. 573 - 580
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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