Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors Sildenafil and Vardenafil Reduce Zebrafish Rod Photoreceptor Outer Segment Shedding.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The vertebrate rod photoreceptor undergoes daily growth and shedding to renew the rod outer segment (ROS), a modified cilium that contains the phototransduction machinery. It has been demonstrated that ROS shedding is regulated by the light-dark cycle; however, we do not yet have a satisfactory understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie this regulation. Given that phototransduction relies on the hydrolysis of cGMP via phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), we examined ROS growth and shedding in zebrafish treated with cGMP-specific PDE inhibitors.

Methods

We used transgenic zebrafish that express an inducible, transmembrane-bound mCherry protein, which forms a stripe in the ROS following a heat shock pulse and serves as a marker of ROS renewal. Zebrafish were reared

SUBMITTER: Campbell LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5667398 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature