Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Biological Rhythms
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sloan, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Eskin, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sloan, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Eskin, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Aging Affects the Ocular Circadian Pacemaker of Aplysia californica

Mark A. Sloan

Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, 3201 Cullen Blvd., HSC 402, Houston, TX 77204-5934; Biological Rhythms and Integrative Neuroscience Research Institute, Air Force Research Lab (HEPM), Brooks AFB, TX 78235-5104

Jonathan Levenson

Quang Tran

Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, 3201 Cullen Blvd., HSC 402, Houston, TX 77204-5934

Marie Kerbeshian

Gene D. Block

Department of Biology, NSF Center for Biological Timing, University of Virginia, Gilmer Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22901

Arnold Eskin

Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, 3201 Cullen Blvd., HSC 402, Houston, TX 77204-5934

The eye of Aplysia has been used to explore various aspects of circadian rhythms. The authors discovered that age has profound effects on the circadian rhythm of nerve impulses from the eye. With age, there was a significant decrease in the amplitude of the rhythm. The decrease appeared to be continuous over the life span of the animal and was observed both in vitro and in vivo. The free-running period and phase angle of the rhythm steadily increased with age, indicating that the pacemaker itself was affected by age. Rates of transcription and translation were significantly increased with age, suggesting that age-associated alterations of the pacemaker may occur through changes in macromolecular synthesis. Interestingly, eyes from some older (≥10 months) animals had "cloudy" lenses (cataracts). Highly damped or arrhythmic rhythms always were seen in eyes with cloudy lenses. Morphology of eyes with cloudy lenses indicated severe retinal degeneration. No such degeneration was observed in eyes with clear lenses that were used in the analysis of the rhythm with age.

Key Words: Aplysia • mollusc • circadian • rhythm • aging • macromolecular synthesis • morphology • cataracts

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 14, No. 2, 151-159 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/074873099129000542
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?