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Environmental light and heredity are associated with adaptive changes in retinal DHA levels that affect retinal function

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Lipids

Abstract

Retinas of rats and mice react to environmental and genetic stimuli by altering the level of DHA in their rod outer segment membranes. We propose that this adaptation is a neuroprotective response to control the number of photons captured by rhodopsin and the efficiency of visual transduction, under conditions where excessive activation of the transduction cascade could lead to cell death.

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Abbreviations

ERG:

electroretinogram

G:

transducin

prcd :

progressive rodcone degeneration

PUFA:

polyunsaturated fatty acid

ROS:

rod outer segments

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Cell Biology and Ophthalmology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 508 S.L. Young Blvd., 608 S.L. Young Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK

    Robert E. Anderson

  2. Dean A. McGee Eye Institute, 608 S.L. Young Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK

    Robert E. Anderson

  3. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 608 S.L. Young Blvd., Nashville, TN

    John S. Penn

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  1. Robert E. Anderson
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Correspondence to Robert E. Anderson.

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Anderson, R.E., Penn, J.S. Environmental light and heredity are associated with adaptive changes in retinal DHA levels that affect retinal function. Lipids 39, 1121–1124 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-004-1338-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-004-1338-8

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