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Light Induced and Circadian Effects on Retinal Photoreceptor Cell Crystallins
Author(s) -
Organisciak Daniel,
Darrow Ruth,
Barsalou Linda,
Rapp Christine,
McDonald Benjamin,
Wong Paul
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.2010.00844.x
Subject(s) - retina , circadian rhythm , retinal , darkness , biology , crystallin , microbiology and biotechnology , photoreceptor cell , weanling , biophysics , endocrinology , biochemistry , neuroscience , botany
Crystallins in the retina may serve a chaperone‐like protective function. In this study we measured mRNA levels for alpha‐, beta‐ and gamma‐crystallins in rat retinas following treatment with potentially damaging levels of light. We also determined crystallin protein patterns in photoreceptor cell rod outer segments (ROSs) isolated from rats exposed to intense light. Weanling albino rats were maintained in a dim cyclic light environment or in darkness for 40 days. At P60 animals were treated with intense visible light, for as long as 8 h, beginning at various times of the day or night. Retinas were excised immediately after light treatment and used for quantitative RT‐PCR, or to prepare ROSs for western analysis. Some eyes were frozen in OCT for crystallin immunohistochemistry. Intense light exposure led to increases in mRNA expression for all retinal crystallins and to changes in ROS crystallin immunoreactivity. These light‐induced changes were found to depend on the time of day that exposure started, duration of light treatment and previous light rearing history. We suggest that crystallin synthesis in retina exhibits a dependence on both light stress and circadian rhythm and that within photoreceptor cells crystallins appear to migrate in a light‐independent, circadian fashion.