RNAseq was performed on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) after knocking down OPN3.
Opsin 3 (OPN3) belongs to the GPCR superfamily and is widely expressed in human tissues, with relatively higher expression levels compared to other opsins. OPN3 is believed to play a crucial role in non-visual functions. It has been reported that OPN3 is expressed throughout most stages of embryonic development and may have essential functions in the development of the brain and spinal cord, including eye movement, olfaction, memory, mood, and emotion.Beyond the retina, OPN3 expression is involved in controlling lens shape, thereby influencing ocular refraction and playing a key role in normal refractive development. Additionally, OPN3 is highly and widely expressed in the skin, where it regulates melanocyte pigmentation, nevus formation, melanocyte survival, fibroblast photoaging, keratinocyte differentiation, and hair growth. OPN3 is also closely associated with wound healing and participates in various physiological processes, including lipolysis and mitochondrial activity in brown adipocytes, adipose stem cell migration, airway smooth muscle relaxation, drug resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma, and autophagy in colorectal cancer.The physiological and pathological functions of cells, organs, and tissues are closely related to vascular development. However, as a GPCR, the expression of OPN3 in blood vessels and its role in angiogenesis remain unclear. Therefore, investigating the function and significance of OPN3 in HUVECs is of great importance.HUVECs were infected with lentivirus to knock down OPN3 (experimental group), while a non-knockdown group served as the control. Each group was analyzed in triplicate.