The circadian clock system in the mammalian retina

摘要: Daily rhythms are a ubiquitous feature of living systems. Generally, these not just passive consequences cyclic fluctuations in the environment, but instead originate within organism. In mammals, including humans, master pacemaker controlling 24-hour is localized suprachiasmatic nuclei hypothalamus. This circadian clock responsible for temporal organization wide variety functions, ranging from sleep and food intake, to physiological measures such as body temperature, heart rate hormone release. The retinal was first extra-SCN oscillator be discovered mammals several studies have now demonstrated that many physiological, cellular, molecular present retina under control clock, or more likely network hierarchically organized clocks this tissue.