The retina mediates various subconscious, photoadaptive responses to light, including pupil constriction, acute enhancement of alertness, regulating hormone secretion from the brain, and synchronizing the body clock to the light/dark cycle. Inadequate or mistimed induction of these responses, such as occurs in shift workers or the blind, can lead to jet lag symptoms, winter depression, sleep disorders, headache, and even breast and prostate cancer. Retinal input to the subconscious visual system is mediated by the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), which generate intrinsic, melanopsin-based light responses as well as extrinsic, rod/cone-driven photoresponses. These neurons were discovered recently and much remains to be learned about how they respond to different kinds of light, and how they interact with other cells in the retina. This application's long-term objective is to fill both of these knowledge gaps and use this knowledge to help develop lighting technologies that promote health and productivity, light therapies for winter depression, better diagnostic tests for eye disorders, and medical innovations that ameliorate conditions of the visually impaired. This grant proposal consists of three Specific Aims.
In aim 1, whole-cell recordings will be made from ipRGCs identified using two-photon microscopy, and various pharmacological tools will be used to dissect the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these ganglion cells' rod/cone-driven responses to light.
In aim 2, whole-cell recording, immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging will be used to identify retinal amacrine cells that receive input from ipRGCs, characterize their light-evoked responses, and determine their potential physiological functions.
Aim 3 will use multielectrode-array recording, pharmacological manipulation and behavioral assays to determine the role of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in the generation of ipRGCs' melanopsin-based light responses. The RPE is known to be crucial for the photosensitivity of the classical photoreceptors but their importance for ganglion-cell photoreceptors has not been fully investigated.

Public Health Relevance

The retina drives subconscious physiological responses to light such as regulating hormone secretion and synchronizing the sleep/wake cycle to the light/dark cycle. This grant analyzes the light-evoked responses and neural circuits of the retinal cells that drive these subconscious responses. The proposed work is relevant to public health because the findings may help develop light therapies for depression and sleep disorders, novel lighting technologies that enhance productivity at work and school, and better diagnostic tests for eye disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY023660-03
Application #
8877548
Study Section
Neurotransporters, Receptors, and Calcium Signaling Study Section (NTRC)
Program Officer
Greenwell, Thomas
Project Start
2013-08-01
Project End
2016-06-30
Budget Start
2015-07-01
Budget End
2016-06-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Schroeder, Melanie M; Harrison, Krystal R; Jaeckel, Elizabeth R et al. (2018) The Roles of Rods, Cones, and Melanopsin in Photoresponses of M4 Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (ipRGCs) and Optokinetic Visual Behavior. Front Cell Neurosci 12:203
Zhao, Xiwu; Reifler, Aaron N; Schroeder, Melanie M et al. (2017) Mechanisms creating transient and sustained photoresponses in mammalian retinal ganglion cells. J Gen Physiol 149:335-353
Zhao, Xiwu; Pack, Weston; Khan, Naheed W et al. (2016) Prolonged Inner Retinal Photoreception Depends on the Visual Retinoid Cycle. J Neurosci 36:4209-17
Walch, Olivia J; Zhang, L Samantha; Reifler, Aaron N et al. (2015) Characterizing and modeling the intrinsic light response of rat ganglion-cell photoreceptors. J Neurophysiol 114:2955-66
Reifler, Aaron N; Chervenak, Andrew P; Dolikian, Michael E et al. (2015) The rat retina has five types of ganglion-cell photoreceptors. Exp Eye Res 130:17-28
Reifler, Aaron N; Chervenak, Andrew P; Dolikian, Michael E et al. (2015) All spiking, sustained ON displaced amacrine cells receive gap-junction input from melanopsin ganglion cells. Curr Biol 25:2763-2773
Zhao, Xiwu; Stafford, Ben K; Godin, Ashley L et al. (2014) Photoresponse diversity among the five types of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. J Physiol 592:1619-36