Deguchi T
Nature. 1981 Apr 23;290(5808):706-7. doi: 10.1038/290706a0.
The pineal gland of lower vertebrates such as fish, amphibians and reptiles is primarily a photoreceptor organ and its electrical activity changes in response to environmental lighting, whereas the mammalian pineal gland is a secretory organ and no longer responds to direct illumination. It is uncertain whether the avian pineal gland retains a photoreceptive capability, and also whether the gland is a photosensor involved in the photo-periodic control of reproductive systems and circadian rhythms in birds. Recently, I and other workers have shown that the circadian rhythm of serotonin N-acetyltransferase activity persisted in organ cultures of chicken pineals, indicating the presence of an endogenous circadian oscillator in the gland. Also, the observation that direct illumination of cultured chicken pineals suppressed the night-time increase of N-acetyl-transferase activity suggests that the gland contains a photoreceptor. I report here that the action spectrum of the photosensitivity of the isolated chicken pineal resembles the absorption spectrum of rhodopsin.
鱼类、两栖类和爬行类等低等脊椎动物的松果体主要是一个光感受器器官，其电活动会随着环境光照的变化而改变，而哺乳动物的松果体是一个分泌器官，不再对直接光照产生反应。目前尚不清楚鸟类的松果体是否保留了光感受能力，也不清楚该腺体是否是参与鸟类生殖系统光周期控制和昼夜节律的光传感器。最近，我和其他研究人员发现，血清素N-乙酰转移酶活性的昼夜节律在鸡松果体的器官培养物中持续存在，这表明该腺体中存在内源性昼夜振荡器。此外，对培养的鸡松果体进行直接光照会抑制夜间N-乙酰转移酶活性增加的观察结果表明，该腺体含有一个光感受器。我在此报告，分离出的鸡松果体的光敏作用光谱类似于视紫红质的吸收光谱。
