RT Journal Article
T1 Presence of melanopsin in human crystalline lens epithelial cells and its role in melatonin synthesis
A1 Alkozi, Hanan Awad
A1 Wang, Xiaoyu
A1 Pérez de Lara, María Jesús
A1 Pintor, Jesús
AB Melanopsin is a non-image forming photoreceptor known to be present in the retina and it is considered to have light regulated tasks among other functions. In the present work, melanopsin presence in human lens epithelial cells as well as in human lens tissue is described for the first time. Moreover, studying the concentration of melatonin and its synthesising enzyme AANAT proved a clear link between melanopsin activation and the suppression of melatonin synthesis. Melanopsin sensitivity to specific wavelength (465–480 nm, blue) was confirmed after making temporal studies incubating lens epithelial cells under light, red, green, blue and total darkness for 2, 4, 8, 12 h and analysing the concentration of both melatonin and its synthesising enzyme AANAT, discovering that melatonin levels after submitting cells to total darkness are significantly higher to ones submitted to white or specifically blue light (***p < 0.001, n = 6). The involvement of melanopsin in the regulation of melatonin was also determined by using a specific inhibitor AA92593 and by inhibiting melanopsin-induced phospholipase C activation. Under this situation neither AANAT nor melatonin levels changed under light conditions (n = 4, ***p < 0.001). The discovery of melanopsin in the lens opens the possibility of regulating melatonin synthesis with the corresponding implication as an antioxidant substance.
PB Elsevier
SN 0014-4835
YR 2017
FD 2017-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/17689
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/17689
LA eng
NO Received 28 August 2016, Revised 15 November 2016, Accepted 23 November 2016, Available online 30 November 2016
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO RETICS (Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa en Salud)
NO Saudi Arabia Government
DS Docta Complutense
RD 9 may 2025