PUBLICATION
Larval zebrafish turn off their photoreceptors at night
- Authors
- Emran, F., and Dowling, J.E.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-101115-9
- Date
- 2010
- Source
- Communicative & integrative biology 3(5): 430-432 (Review)
- Registered Authors
- Dowling, John E., Emran, Farida
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
- none
- PubMed
- 21057632 Full text @ Commun. Integr. Biol.
Citation
Emran, F., and Dowling, J.E. (2010) Larval zebrafish turn off their photoreceptors at night. Communicative & integrative biology. 3(5):430-432.
Abstract
Studies in several vertebrate species have shown that visual sensitivity and a number of other retinal phenomena are regulated by circadian mechanisms. For example, ultra-structural studies of 5 day old zebrafish larvae have shown that synaptic ribbons in photoreceptor terminals undergo dramatic diurnal alterations. These synaptic ribbons are very prominent during the day, but are almost completely absent at night. The implications of this circadian driven process on visual function are not well understood. We recently showed that larval zebrafish essentially lose visual responsiveness at night. This shut-down of retinal function at night is regulated by at least two mechanisms: the disassembly of synaptic ribbons in cone pedicles and a decrease of outer segment activity. Here, we summarize our recently reported observations and further discuss our hypothesis on how this phenomenon of shutting-down retinal function at night may provide a means for zebrafish larvae to conserve energy.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping