Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

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 HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Saldanha, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Silver, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Saldanha, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Silver, R.
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?

Direct Innervation of GnRH Neurons by Encephalic Photoreceptors in Birds

Colin J. Saldanha

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Department of Physiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Ann-Judith Silverman

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Columbia University

Rae Silver

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Columbia University; Psychology Departments, Barnard College and Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Department of Psychology, Columbia University MAILCODE 5501, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USAqr{at}columbia.edu

In nonmammalian vertebrates, photic cues that regulate the timing of seasonal reproductive cyclicity are detected by nonretinal, nonpineal deep brain photoreceptors. It has long been assumed that the underlying mechanism involves the transmission of photic information from the photoreceptor to a circadian system, and thence to the reproductive axis. An alternative hypothesis is that there is direct communication between the brain photoreceptor and the reproductive axis. In the present study, light and confocal microscopy reveal that gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons and processes are scattered among photoreceptor cells (identified by their opsin-immunoreactivity) in the lateral septum (SL). In the median eminence (ME), opsin and GnRH immunoreactive fibers overlap extensively. Single and double label ultrastructural immunocytochemistry indicate that in the SL and preoptic area (POA), opsin positive terminals form axo-dendritic synapses onto GnRH dendrites. In the ME, opsin and GnRH terminals lie adjacent to each other, make contact with tanycytes, or terminate on the hypophyseal portal capillaries. These results reveal that brain photoreceptors communicate directly with GnRH-neurons; this represents a means by which photoperiodic information reaches the reproductive axis.

Key Words: circadian • avian • brain photoreceptor • GnRH • median eminence • opsin • VIP

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 16, No. 1, 39-49 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/074873040101600105
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?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 EndocrinologyHome page
D. L. Maney, C. T. Goode, J. I. Lake, H. S. Lange, and S. O'Brien
Rapid Neuroendocrine Responses to Auditory Courtship Signals
Endocrinology, December 1, 2007; 148(12): 5614 - 5623.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
L. J. Kriegsfeld, D. F. Mei, G. E. Bentley, T. Ubuka, A. O. Mason, K. Inoue, K. Ukena, K. Tsutsui, and R. Silver
Identification and characterization of a gonadotropin-inhibitory system in the brains of mammals
PNAS, February 14, 2006; 103(7): 2410 - 2415.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 EndocrinologyHome page
S. Yasuo, N. Nakao, S. Ohkura, M. Iigo, S. Hagiwara, A. Goto, H. Ando, T. Yamamura, M. Watanabe, T. Watanabe, et al.
Long-Day Suppressed Expression of Type 2 Deiodinase Gene in the Mediobasal Hypothalamus of the Saanen Goat, a Short-Day Breeder: Implication for Seasonal Window of Thyroid Hormone Action on Reproductive Neuroendocrine Axis
Endocrinology, January 1, 2006; 147(1): 432 - 440.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
R. S. Peterson, L. Yarram, B. A Schlinger, and C. J Saldanha
Aromatase is pre-synaptic and sexually dimorphic in the adult zebra finch brain
Proc R Soc B, October 7, 2005; 272(1576): 2089 - 2096.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 EndocrinologyHome page
T. Yamamura, K. Hirunagi, S. Ebihara, and T. Yoshimura
Seasonal Morphological Changes in the Neuro-Glial Interaction between Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Nerve Terminals and Glial Endfeet in Japanese Quail
Endocrinology, September 1, 2004; 145(9): 4264 - 4267.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
A. Dawson and T. J. Van't Hof
Ontogeny of the Daily Profile of Plasma Melatonin in European Starlings Raised under Long or Short Photoperiods
J Biol Rhythms, June 1, 2002; 17(3): 259 - 265.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
A. Dawson, V. M. King, G. E. Bentley, and G. F. Ball
Photoperiodic Control of Seasonality in Birds
J Biol Rhythms, August 1, 2001; 16(4): 365 - 380.
[Abstract] [PDF]