Abstract
Light-dark cycles are the most important time cue for the circadian system to entrain the endogenous circadian clock to the environmental 24 h cycle. Although photic entrainment of circadian rhythms is mediated by the eye in mammals, photoreceptors implicated in circadian photoreception remain unknown. In our previous study, retinally degenerate CBA/J (rd/rd) mice were found to have lower circadian photo-sensitivity for phase-shifting the locomotor activity rhythms than normal CBA/N(+/+) mice. In the present study, the spectral sensitivity for phase-shifting the rhythms was examined in order to characterize the photopigments involved in circadian photoreception of these mice. The spectral sensitivity of CBA/J-rd/rd mice clearly fitted to the Dartnall nomogram for a retinal1-based pigment with a maximum at 480 nm, while the best fitted nomogram had a maximum at 500 nm in CBA/N- +/+ mice. These results suggest that circadian photopigments involved in CBA/J-rd/rd and CBA/N- +/+ mice may be different.
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Yoshimura, T., Ebihara, S. Spectral sensitivity of photoreceptors mediating phase-shifts of circadian rhythms in retinally degenerate CBA/J (rd/rd) and normal CBA/N (+/+) mice. J Comp Physiol A 178, 797–802 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225828
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225828