期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2014
卷号:111
期号:23
页码:8625-8630
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1323350111
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Synchronization of the mammalian master circadian pacemaker to the daily light/dark cycle is mediated exclusively through retinal photoreceptors. The mammalian retina itself is also a self-sustained circadian oscillator. Here we report that the retinal molecular circadian clock can be entrained by lighting cycles in vitro, but that rods, cones, and melanopsin (Opn4) are not required for this entrainment. In vivo, retinas of Opn4-/-;rd1/rd1 mice synchronize to light/dark cycles regardless of the phase of the master circadian pacemakers of the suprachiasmatic nuclei or the behavior of the animal. These data demonstrate that the retina uses a separate mechanism for local entrainment of its circadian clock than for entrainment of organism-level rhythmicity.