Expression of melatonin receptors (MT1 and MT2) and rhodopsin in B16 melanocytes of Mus musculus

• Grant number: 08/01499-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2008
• End date: September 30, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Maria de Lauro Castrucci
• Grantee: Luciane Rogéria dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 06/03381-1 - Comparative physiology of peripheral clocks: clock genes (CLOCK, PER1, PER2, CRY1 and BMAL 1) and their modulation by light and hormones in fish, amphibians and mammals, AP.TEM

Abstract

Most ectothermic vertebrates are able to adjust their skin color in order to mimick the environment, through the pigment migration within chromatophores, regulated by neural and/hormonal systems. These color changes contribute to mimetism, thermoregulation, social communication and expression of behaviors, such as sexual excitement, aggression or fear. Photoreception is exerted, in mammals, by the retinal rods and cones, which change light signal into electrical signal. The visual photopigment foun in rods is rhodopsin which is constituted by retinal, the vitamin A aldehyde, bound to a protein, opsin, which may assume different isomeric configurations. Curiously, rhodopsin was found in vertebrate pigment cells, such as GEM-81 cells of the teleost Carassius auratus and B16 and S-91 of the mouse Mus musculus. Various hormones are able to regulate vertebrate color change, among them the pineal hormone, melatonin, responsible for the integration of the endocrine system to the light/dark cycle. Considering that pigment cells in culture show biological responses to visible light, this study will investigate the regulation of rhodopsin and of melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2 by light and melatonin.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SANTOS, Luciane Rogéria dos. Gene Expression of Melatonin Receptor (Mel1c) and Melanopsins (Opn4x and Opn4m) in Melanophores of Xenopus laevis. 2010. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.