Rod photoreceptors drive circadian photoentrainment across a wide range of light intensities.
In mammals, synchronization of the circadian pacemaker in the hypothalamus is achieved through direct input from the eyes conveyed by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Circadian photoentrainment can be maintained by rod and cone photoreceptors, but their functional contributions and their retinal circuits that impinge on ipRGCs are not well understood. Using mice that lack functional rods or in which rods are the only functional photoreceptors, we found that rods were solely responsible for photoentrainment at scotopic light intensities. Rods were also capable of driving circadian photoentrainment at photopic intensities at which they were incapable of supporting a visually guided behavior. Using mice in which cone photoreceptors were ablated, we found that rods signal through cones at high light intensities, but not at low light intensities. Thus, rods use two distinct retinal circuits to drive ipRGC function to support circadian photoentrainment across a wide range of light intensities.
Altimus
Cara M
CM
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Güler
Ali D
AD
Alam
Nazia M
NM
Arman
A Cyrus
AC
Prusky
Glen T
GT
Sampath
Alapakkam P
AP
Hattar
Samer
S
D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D044385:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology; D051245:Retinal Bipolar Cells / Q000502:physiology; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D017299:Rod Opsins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015293:Transducin / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D000099210:Melanopsin
D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels; D044385:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits; D017299:Rod Opsins; D015293:Transducin; D000099210:Melanopsin; C518237:Cnga3 protein, mouse; C488949:Gnat1 protein, mouse