The
presence of rhodopsin within the macrophages / microglia could explain some of the behavioural and functional benefits observed, since clearance of outer segment debris by these cells in the subretinal space could also contribute to photoreceptor cell survival.
Conservation of visual acuity in the iPS - RPE transplanted eyes was associated with the preservation of photoreceptors in the host outer nuclear layer (ONL — Fig. 7A), identified by the
expression of rhodopsin in the outer segments of photoreceptors (Fig. 7A inset, Dystrophic + transplant).
«Rh7 is the first
example of a rhodopsin that is important in setting circadian rhythms by being expressed in the central brain, rather than the eye,» said Craig Montell, Ph.D., Duggan Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara and senior author of the study.
Using this material, the researchers were able to analyse in detail the
response of rhodopsin, the pigment protein underlying vision, and phosphodiesterase, and for this reason they believe it can be useful in the field of optogenetics in the future.
When this clone was inserted into a mammalian expression vector and transfected into COS - 7 cells, a protein that specifically phosphorylated the agonist - occupied form of the beta 2 - adrenergic receptor and phosphorylated, much more weakly, the light - bleached
form of rhodopsin was expressed.
Phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments was defined by the
inclusion of rhodopsin - labelled material within the TRA -1-85-bordered intracellular compartment of grafted human iPS - RPE cells.
One particular focus in our work is structure, dynamics, and interactions of G - Protein Coupled Receptors (Wu, H.; et al. «Structure of a class C GPCR metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 bound to an allosteric modulator»; Science; 2014; 58 or Alexander, N.; et al. «Energetic
analysis of the rhodopsin - G - protein complex links the alpha5 helix to GDP release»; Nat Struct Mol Biol; 2014; 56).
Importantly, the preservation of light - induced c - Fos expression was restricted to the dorsal retina, surrounding the region of iPS - RPE cell injection only, suggesting preservation of localised neural activation corresponding to the
histology of rhodopsin expression.
It is a building
block of rhodopsin, a compound in the retina responsible for sight in partial darkness.
Importantly, akin to HESC - RPE in vivo, cells at the outside edge of the iPS - RPE cell bolus could phagocytose photoreceptor outer segments from the RCS rat, as indicated by the
presence of rhodopsin - positive photoreceptor material within the cellular membrane of iPS - RPE labelled with HSM (Fig. 5E).
Madathil, S., Furlinski, G. & K. Fahmy Structure and pH - Sensitivity of the Transmembrane Segment 3
of Rhodopsin.