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A Stochastic Model of the Melanopsin Phototransduction Cascade

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Applications of Dynamical Systems in Biology and Medicine

Part of the book series: The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications ((IMA,volume 158))

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Abstract

Melanopsin is an unusual vertebrate photopigment that, in mammals, is expressed in a small subset of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), whose signaling has been implicated in non-image forming vision, regulating such functions as circadian rhythms, pupillary light reflex, and sleep. The biochemical cascade underlying the light response in ipRGCs has not yet been fully elucidated. We developed a stochastic model of the hypothesized melanopsin phototransduction cascade and illustrated that the stochastic model can qualitatively reproduce experimental results under several different conditions. The model allows us to probe various mechanisms in the phototransduction cascade in a way that is not currently experimentally feasible.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), where this work was initiated. This research has been supported in part by the National Institutes of Health under grant R01EY019053 (P.R.R.) and MH67094 (R.L.B.). E.G.C. was supported by National Institutes of Health under training grant NIH/NIGMS T32GM066706.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    R. Lane Brown

  2. School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA

    Erika Camacho

  3. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    Evan G. Cameron & Phyllis R. Robinson

  4. Department of Mathematics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    Christina Hamlet

  5. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    Kathleen A. Hoffman & Hye-Won Kang

  6. Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Katherine S. Williams

  7. Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Glenn R. Wyrick

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  1. R. Lane Brown
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  2. Erika Camacho
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  3. Evan G. Cameron
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  4. Christina Hamlet
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  5. Kathleen A. Hoffman
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  7. Phyllis R. Robinson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen A. Hoffman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Trachette Jackson

  2. Department of Mathematics, Pomona College, Claremont, California, USA

    Ami Radunskaya

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Brown, R.L. et al. (2015). A Stochastic Model of the Melanopsin Phototransduction Cascade. In: Jackson, T., Radunskaya, A. (eds) Applications of Dynamical Systems in Biology and Medicine. The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications, vol 158. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2782-1_8

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