CENTRAL REGULATION OF THE PERIPHERAL VISUAL SYSTEM

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：日常的光敏感 我们视网膜中的光感受器细胞会脱落并更新一部分 光敏膜这个过程为什么发生还不完全清楚， 然而，它在迄今为止研究的所有动物中普遍存在。有必要 正常的视觉功能。事实上，视网膜退化发生在突变鼠身上 无法剥离感光膜在大多数动物中， 光敏膜受生物钟（昼夜节律）调节 并由时钟和/或光触发。我们所知甚少， 然而，关于生物钟和光如何相互作用， 调节日常感光膜脱落和更新。 马蹄蟹（Limulus）的侧眼长期以来一直是一种重要的 用于研究光敏膜脱落的模型系统。鲎 提供了相对独特的优势，迄今为止，没有证据表明 眼睛里的生物钟;相反，昼夜节律被传达给 眼睛从大脑的中央时钟沿着神经纤维，从 从大脑到眼睛的视神经因此，光的影响和 光感受器结构和功能的昼夜节律可以很容易地 在这个系统中分离。研究人员开发了一种可测试的模型， 光和生物钟的相互作用， 每日同步光敏感膜脱落。调查人员建议 通过以下三个具体目标来评估这一模式。 1.研究生物钟的分子途径 为视网膜感光膜脱落做好准备。 2.判断生物钟是否感光膜 通过竞争性酶相互作用脱落。 3.研究感光细胞细胞骨架在光敏感中的作用 膜脱落

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): Everyday the light-sensitive cells in our retinas, the photoreceptors, shed and renew a portion of their light-sensitive membrane. Why this process occurs is not completely understood, however; it is ubiquitous to all animals studied to date. It is essential for proper visual function. In fact, retinal degeneration occurs in mutant rats unable to shed their photosensitive membrane. In most animals, shedding of the photosensitive membrane is regulated by a biological clock (circadian rhythm) and triggered by that clock and/or by light. Relatively little is known, however, about how the biological clock and light interact to trigger and regulate daily light-sensitive membrane shedding and renewal. The lateral eye of the horseshoe crab (Limulus) has long served as an important model system for the study of light-sensitive membrane shedding. Limulus provides the relatively unique advantage that, to date, there is no evidence of a biological clock in the eye; instead, circadian rhythms are communicated to the eye from a central clock in the brain along nerve fibers that run from the brain to the eye in the optic nerve. As a result, the effects of light and circadian rhythms on photoreceptor structure and function can easily be decoupled in this system. The investigator has developed a testable model for the interaction of light and the biological clock in the regulation of synchronous daily light-sensitive membrane shedding. The investigator proposes to evaluate this model through the following three specific aims. 1. Investigate the molecular pathways through which the biological clock prepares the retina for light-sensitive membrane shedding. 2. Determine whether the biological clock synchronizes light-sensitive membrane shedding via competitive enzymatic interactions. 3. Examine the role of the photoreceptor cell cytoskeleton in light-sensitive membrane shedding.