DISK RENEWAL IN RETINAL VISUAL CELLS

光感受器的功能取决于维持微妙的平衡 光敏膜的组装及其降解过程。 这些过程在脊椎动物的视网膜中以有节奏的方式发生， 了解控制节律性的因素可能被证明在 了解涉及光感受器的病理过程。我们的目标是 了解周期性光感受器代谢的调节。这个 待研究的过程为杆状感光器圆盘剥离、锥体 视网膜运动和节律性褪黑素代谢。每道工序 在它的活动和主要模型中表现出昼夜节律性 在这些研究中使用的非洲爪哇，可以在一种 体外制剂，可用于实验操作。一个主要目标 就是探索“褪黑激素样蛋白”的作用机制 视网膜多巴胺分别作为黑暗和光明的信号相互作用。 使用从尖吻林蛙中提取的体外制剂的其他研究 来自实验室的老鼠将被用来研究这种机制 这种圆盘脱落是由光和生物钟触发的。我们 将通过分析定位在眼睛中的生物钟的特性 监测褪黑激素的昼夜释放。这些调查将 要求使用体外培养、放射免疫分析、 神经药理学、生化和电生理技术。它 希望了解节律性光感受器的调节 新陈代谢将为评价其作用机制提供新的依据。 区域退行性疾病的致病性。

Photoreceptor function depends on maintenance of a delicate balance between the processes of photosensitive membrane assembly and its degradation. These processes occur in a rhythmic fashion in vertebrate retina and understanding the factors controlling rhythmicity may prove important in understanding pathological processes involving photoreceptors. Our goal is to understand the regulation of cyclic photoreceptor metabolism. The processes to be studied are rod photoreceptor disc shedding, cone retinomotor movement and rhythmic melatonin metabolism. Each process exhibits circadian rhythmicity in its activity and in the principal model used in these studies, Xenopus laevis, can be studied in detail in an in vitro preparation, accessible for experimental manipulation. A major goal is to explore the mechanisms by which "melatonin-like" copmpounds and retinal dopamine interact as signals respectively for darkness and light. Additional studies using in vitro preparations derived from Rana pipiens and from laboratory rats will be used to investigate the mechanisms by which disc shedding is triggered by light and by a circadian clock. We will analyze the properties of a circadian clock localized in the eye by monitoring circadian release of melatonin. These investigations will require the use of in vitro culture, radioimmunoassay, neuropharmacological, biochemical and electrophysiological techniques. It is expected that understanding regulation of rhythmic photoreceptor metabolism will provide a new basis for evaluating mechanisms of pathogenicity in reinal degenerative diseases.