CENTRAL REGULATION OF THE PERIPHERAL VISUAL SYSTEM

描述(摘自申请者的摘要)：日常生活中的感光材料 我们视网膜中的细胞，即光感受器，脱落并更新一部分 光敏膜。这个过程为什么会发生还不完全清楚， 然而，到目前为止，所有被研究的动物都普遍存在这种现象。这是必不可少的 正常的视觉功能。事实上，视网膜变性发生在突变的大鼠身上 不能脱下他们的感光膜。在大多数动物中，脱落物 光敏膜受生物钟调节(昼夜节律) 并且由该时钟和/或由光触发。我们对此知之甚少， 然而，关于生物钟和光是如何相互作用来触发和 调节日常光敏膜的脱落和更新。 长期以来，马蹄蟹的侧眼一直是一种重要的 光敏膜脱落研究的模型系统。蝌蚪 提供了相对独特的优势，到目前为止，还没有证据表明 眼睛中的生物钟；相反，昼夜节律被传达给 眼睛来自大脑中的中央时钟，沿着神经纤维从 视神经中的脑对眼。因此，光和光的影响 光感受器结构和功能的昼夜节律很容易 在这个系统中是分离的。研究人员开发了一种可测试的模型 光与生物钟的相互作用 同步每日光敏膜剥离。调查员提议 通过以下三个具体目标对该模型进行评估。 1.研究生物钟通过的分子途径 为视网膜的光敏膜脱落做好准备。 2.确定生物钟是否与光敏膜同步 通过竞争性酶相互作用脱落。 3.检测感光细胞细胞骨架在光敏中的作用 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.