Direct photoreception by pituitary endocrine cells regulates hormone release and pigmentation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fukuda, Ayaka; Sato, Keita; Fujimori, Chika; Yamashita, Takahiro; Takeuchi, Atsuko; Ohuchi, Hideyo; Umatani, Chie; Kanda, Shinji
• 署名单位: University of Tokyo; Okayama University; Kyoto University; Kobe Pharmaceutical University; University of Tokyo; National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) - Japan; National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB); Hokkaido University; Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-13798
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adj9687
• 发表日期: 2025-01-03
• 页码: 43-48
• 关键词: temperature; secretion; rhodopsin; EVOLUTION; genes; brain; opn5

摘要

The recent discovery of nonvisual photoreceptors in various organs has raised expectations for uncovering their roles and underlying mechanisms. In this work, we identified a previously unrecognized hormone-releasing mechanism in the pituitary of the Japanese rice fish (medaka) induced by light. Ca2+ imaging analysis revealed that melanotrophs, a type of pituitary endocrine cell that secretes melanocyte-stimulating hormone, robustly increase the concentration of intracellular Ca2+ during short-wavelength light exposure. Moreover, we identified Opn5m as the key molecule that drives this response. Knocking out opn5m attenuated melanogenesis by reducing tyrosinase expression in the skin. Our findings suggest a mechanism in which direct reception of short-wavelength light by pituitary melanotrophs triggers a pathway that might contribute to protection from ultraviolet radiation in medaka.