Time in the biological sense is measured by cycles that range from milliseconds to years. Circadian rhythms, which measure time on a scale of 24 h, are generated by one of the most ubiquitous and well-studied timing systems. At the core of this timing mechanism is an intricate molecular mechanism that ticks away in many different tissues throughout the body. However, these independent rhythms are tamed by a master clock in the brain, which coordinates tissue-specific rhythms according to light input it receives from the outside world.

Coordination of circadian timing in mammals

More than a century after the introduction of incandescent lighting and half a century after the introduction of fluorescent lighting, solid-state light sources are revolutionizing an increasing number of applications. Whereas the efficiency of conventional incandescent and fluorescent lights is limited by fundamental factors that cannot be overcome, the efficiency of solid-state sources is limited only by human creativity and imagination. The high efficiency of solid-state sources already provides energy savings and environmental benefits in a number of applications. However, solid-state sources also offer controllability of their spectral power distribution, spatial distribution, color temperature, temporal modulation, and polarization properties. Such ‘‘smart’’ light sources can adjust to specific environments and requirements, a property that could result in tremendous benefits in lighting, automobiles, transportation, communication, imaging, agriculture, and medicine.

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Solid-State Light Sources Getting Smart

The primary circadian pacemaker, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the mammalian brain, is photoentrained by light signals from the eyes through the retinohypothalamic tract. Retinal rod and cone cells are not required for photoentrainment. Recent evidence suggests that the entraining photoreceptors are retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that project to the SCN. The visual pigment for this photoreceptor may be melanopsin, an opsin-like protein whose coding messenger RNA is found in a subset of mammalian RGCs. By cloning rat melanopsin and generating specific antibodies, we show that melanopsin is present in cell bodies, dendrites, and proximal axonal segments of a subset of rat RGCs. In mice heterozygous for tau-lacZ targeted to the melanopsin gene locus, beta-galactosidase-positive RGC axons projected to the SCN and other brain nuclei involved in circadian photoentrainment or the pupillary light reflex. Rat RGCs that exhibited intrinsic photosensitivity invariably expressed melanopsin. Hence, melanopsin is most likely the visual pigment of phototransducing RGCs that set the circadian clock and initiate other non-image-forming visual functions.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/295/5557/1065.full.pdf

Melanopsin-Containing Retinal Ganglion Cells: Architecture, Projections, and Intrinsic Photosensitivity

Most physiology and behavior of mammalian organisms follow daily oscillations. These rhythmic processes are governed by environmental cues (e.g., fluctuations in light intensity and temperature), an internal circadian timing system, and the interaction between this timekeeping system and environmental signals. In mammals, the circadian timekeeping system has a complex architecture, composed of a central pacemaker in the brain's suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) and subsidiary clocks in nearly every body cell. The central clock is synchronized to geophysical time mainly via photic cues perceived by the retina and transmitted by electrical signals to SCN neurons. In turn, the SCN influences circadian physiology and behavior via neuronal and humoral cues and via the synchronization of local oscillators that are operative in the cells of most organs and tissues. Thus, some of the SCN output pathways serve as input pathways for peripheral tissues. Here we discuss knowledge acquired during the past few years on the complex structure and function of the mammalian circadian timing system.

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The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks.

Mammals synchronize their circadian activity primarily to the cycles of light and darkness in the environment. This is achieved by ocular photoreception relaying signals to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus. Signals from the SCN cause the synchronization of independent circadian clocks throughout the body to appropriate phases. Signals that can entrain these peripheral clocks include humoral signals, metabolic factors, and body temperature. At the level of individual tissues, thousands of genes are brought to unique phases through the actions of a local transcription/translation-based feedback oscillator and systemic cues. In this molecular clock, the proteins CLOCK and BMAL1 cause the transcription of genes which ultimately feedback and inhibit CLOCK and BMAL1 transcriptional activity. Finally, there are also other molecular circadian oscillators which can act independently of the transcription-based clock in all species which have been tested.

https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783642259494-c1.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1387410-p174273964

Molecular components of the mammalian circadian clock

Light synchronizes mammalian circadian rhythms with environmental time by modulating retinal input to the circadian pacemaker-the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Such photic entrainment requires neither rods nor cones, the only known retinal photoreceptors. Here, we show that retinal ganglion cells innervating the SCN are intrinsically photosensitive. Unlike other ganglion cells, they depolarized in response to light even when all synaptic input from rods and cones was blocked. The sensitivity, spectral tuning, and slow kinetics of this light response matched those of the photic entrainment mechanism, suggesting that these ganglion cells may be the primary photoreceptors for this system.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/295/5557/1070.full.pdf

Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock.

The intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) provide a conduit through which rods and cones can access brain circuits mediating circadian entrainment, pupillary constriction and other non-image-forming visual functions. We characterized synaptic inputs to ipRGCs in rats using whole-cell and multielectrode array recording techniques. In constant darkness all ipRGCs received spontaneous excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs. Light stimulation evoked in all ipRGCs both synaptically driven (‘extrinsic’) and autonomous melanopsin-based (‘intrinsic’) responses. The extrinsic light responses were depolarizing, about 5 log units more sensitive than the intrinsic light response, and transient near threshold but sustained to brighter light. Pharmacological data showed that ON bipolar cells and amacrine cells make the most prominent direct contributions to these extrinsic light responses, whereas OFF bipolar cells make a very weak contribution. The spatial extent of the synaptically driven light responses was comparable to that of the intrinsic photoresponse, suggesting that synaptic contacts are made onto the entire dendritic field of the ipRGCs. These synaptic influences increase the sensitivity of ipRGCs to light, and also extend their temporal bandpass to higher frequencies. These extrinsic ipRGC light responses can explain some of the previously reported properties of circadian photoentrainment and other non-image-forming visual behaviours.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/jphysiol.2007.133751

Synaptic influences on rat ganglion‐cell photoreceptors

Photoreceptor Adaptation in Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

The authors attempt to improve existing retinal models by incorporating measurements of the physiological properties and connectivity of only the primary excitatory circuitry of the retina. The resulting model predicts ganglion cell responses to a variety of spatial patterns and provides a direct correspondence between circuit connectivity and retinal output.

The spatial structure of a nonlinear receptive field.

Effective sensory processing requires matching the gain of neural responses to the range of signals encountered. For rod vision, gain controls operate at light levels at which photons arrive rarely at individual rods, light levels too low to cause adaptation in rod phototransduction. Under these conditions, adaptation within a conserved pathway in mammalian retina maintains sensitivity as light levels change. To relate retinal signals to behavioral work on detection at low light levels, we measured how background light affects the gain and noise of primate ganglion cells. To determine where and how gain is controlled, we tracked rod-mediated signals across the mouse retina. These experiments led to three main conclusions: (1) the primary site of adaptation at low light levels is the synapse between rod bipolar and AII amacrine cells; (2) cellular noise after the gain control is nearly independent of background intensity; and (3) at low backgrounds, noise in the circuitry, rather than rod noise or fluctuations in arriving photons, limits ganglion cell sensitivity. This work provides physiological insights into the rich history of experiments characterizing how rod vision avoids saturation as light levels increase.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/26/15/3959.full.pdf

Felice A. Dunn

Papers

Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock.

Synaptic influences on rat ganglion‐cell photoreceptors

Photoreceptor Adaptation in Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

The spatial structure of a nonlinear receptive field.

Controlling the gain of rod-mediated signals in the Mammalian retina.