Open AccessViolet-light suppression of thermogenesis by opsin 5 hypothalamic neurons
Author(s) -
Kevin X. Zhang,
Shane P D'Souza,
Brian A. Upton,
Stace Kernodle,
Shruti Vemaraju,
Gowri Nayak,
Kevin D. Gaitonde,
Anatol W. Holt,
Courtney D. Linne,
April N. Smith,
Nathan T. Petts,
Matthew Batie,
Rajib Mukherjee,
Durgesh Tiwari,
Ethan D. Buhr,
Russell N. Van Gelder,
Christina Groß,
Alison Sweeney,
Joan Sanchez-Gurmaches,
Randy J. Seeley,
Richard A. Lang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 15.993
H-Index - 1226
eISSN - 1476-4687
pISSN - 0028-0836
DOI - 10.1038/s41586-020-2683-0
Subject(s) - photostimulation , thermogenesis , opsin , biology , brown adipose tissue , endocrinology , medicine , preoptic area , stimulation , xanthophyll , hypothalamus , microbiology and biotechnology , adipose tissue , retinal , neuroscience , biochemistry , rhodopsin , photosynthesis
The opsin family of G-protein-coupled receptors are used as light detectors in animals. Opsin 5 (also known as neuropsin or OPN5) is a highly conserved opsin that is sensitive to visible violet light 1,2 . In mice, OPN5 is a known photoreceptor in the retina 3 and skin 4 but is also expressed in the hypothalamic preoptic area (POA) 5 . Here we describe a light-sensing pathway in which POA neurons that express Opn5 regulate thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). We show that Opn5 is expressed in glutamatergic warm-sensing POA neurons that receive synaptic input from several thermoregulatory nuclei. We further show that Opn5 POA neurons project to BAT and decrease its activity under chemogenetic stimulation. Opn5-null mice show overactive BAT, increased body temperature, and exaggerated thermogenesis when cold-challenged. Moreover, violet photostimulation during cold exposure acutely suppresses BAT temperature in wild-type mice but not in Opn5-null mice. Direct measurements of intracellular cAMP ex vivo show that Opn5 POA neurons increase cAMP when stimulated with violet light. This analysis thus identifies a violet light-sensitive deep brain photoreceptor that normally suppresses BAT thermogenesis.