Anti-Human OPN4 (a.a. 356-478) Polyclonal antibody

PURPOSE. In vertebrates, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) acting as nonvisual photoreceptors transmit environmental illumination information to the brain, regulating diverse non-image-forming tasks. The phototransduction cascade in chicken ipRGCs has been shown to resemble that of rhabdomeric photoreceptors and involves phospholipase C (PLC) activation. The current work was an investigation of the participation of the phosphoinositide (PIP) cycle in this mechanism and of whether changes in activities of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) and PIP kinase are triggered by light. METHODS. Primary cultures of Thy-1 immunopurified chicken embryonic RGCs were exposed to bright light pulses or kept in the dark, to assess intracellular Ca2+ mobilization by Fluo-3 AM fluorescence microscopy, IP3 levels, and enzymatic activities of diacylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases (DAGK, PIK, and PIPK, respectively), by radioactive assays. The presence of different melanopsins (Opn4m and Opn4x) and other photopigments was determined by RT-PCR and immunochemistry. RESULTS. Cultured RGCs expressing different nonvisual photopigments displayed a significant and rapid increase in IP3 levels (1.3-fold) and Ca2+ mobilization by light, which was reversed by administration of the PLC inhibitor U73122 (5 mu M). Brief light pulses also caused a very rapid and transient activation of DAGK, PIK, and PIPK compared with that in the dark control. CONCLUSIONS. The results indicate for the first time that light stimulation of chicken RGC cultures activates the PIP cycle, causing an increase in intracellular levels of IP3, changes in levels of phosphatidic acid, PIP, and PIP2; and mobilization of Ca2+. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010; 51: 5491-5498) DOI: 10.1167/iovs.10-5643

The complexity of the nonvisual photoreception systems in teleosts has just started to be appreciated, with colocalization of multiple photoreceptor types with unresolved functions. Here we describe an intricate expression pattern of melanopsins in early life stages of the marine flat fish Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a period when the unpigmented brain is directly exposed to environmental photons. We show a refined and extensive expression of melanopsins in the halibut brain already at the time of hatching, long before the eyes are functional. We detect melanopsin in the habenula, suprachiasmatic nucleus, dorsal thalamus, and lateral tubular nucleus of first feeding larvae, suggesting conserved functions of the melanopsins in marine teleosts. The complex expression of melanopsins already at larval stages indicates the importance of nonvisual photoreception early in development. Most strikingly, we detect expression of both exorhodopsin and melanopsin in the pineal complex of halibut larvae. Double-fluorescence labeling showed that two clusters of melanopsin-positive cells are located lateral to the central rosette of exorhodopsin-positive cells. The localization of different photopigments in the pineal complex suggests that two parallel photoreceptor systems may be active. Furthermore, the dispersed melanopsin-positive cells in the spinal cord of halibut larvae at the time of hatching may be primary sensory cells or interneurons representing the first example of dispersed high-order photoreceptor cells. The appearance of nonvisual opsins early in the development of halibut provides an alternative model for studying the evolution and functional significance of nonvisual opsins. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:4003-4022, 2014. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.