• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.271-277
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immunoreactivity of calretinin in Brazilian opossum (Monodelphis domestica) retina. Calcium-binding protein calretinin is known to play a key role in calcium-mediated signal transduction. Methods: Experiments have been performed by standard immunocytochemical techniques on retina of the Brazilian opossum. Results: Calretinin-immunoreactivity was exhibited within the horizontal subpopulations, AII amacrine and ganglion cell subpopulations in the Brazilian opossum retina. Especially, all calretinin-immunoreactive AII amacrine cells also expressed parvalbumin. Conclusions: Similar to other mammalian retinas, calretinin-immunoreactivity was also observed within the AII amacrine cells in the Brazilian opossum retina. Thus, calretinin can be a marker of AII amacrine cells in the Brazilian opossum retina.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.133-139
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• 2007

Although the physiological roles of calretinin have not been established, it may simply work as a calcium buffer or may actively work in calcium-mediated signal transduction. Calretinin plays a little role in the transport and physiological buffering of calcium in the adult photoreceptor cells, bipolar cells and horizontal cells of the human retina. We identified the calretinin-immunoreactive neurons in the inner nuclear cell layer and ganglion cell layer and the distribution pattern of the labeled neurons in the retina of a bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, in this study. We observed the existence of calretinin-immunoreactive AII amacrine cell in the inner nuclear layer and ganglion cells in the ganglion cell layer of bat retina through this study. This observation must be significant along with our previous studies as we need to study for more understanding about the unsolved issue of a bat vision and the unique behavioral aspects of bat flight maneuverability.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2008

Recently, we reported the existence of AII "rod" amacrine cells in the retina of the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Jeon et al., 2007). In order to enhance our understanding of bat vision, in the present study, we report on a quantitative analysis of cone and rod photoreceptors. The average cone density was $9,535cells/mm^2$, giving a total number of cones of 33,538 cells/retina. The average rod density was $368,891cells/mm^2$, giving a total number of rods of 1,303,517 cells. On average, the total populations of rods were 97.49%, and cones were 2.51% of all the photoreceptors. Rod: cone ratios ranged from 33.85:1 centrally to 42.26:1 peripherally, with a mean ratio of 38.96:1. The average regularity index of the cone mosaic in bat retina was 3.04. The present results confirm the greater horseshoe bat retina to be strongly rod-dominated. The rod-dominated retina, with the existence of AII cells discovered in our previous study, strongly suggests that the greater horseshoe bat retina has a functional scotopic property of vision. However, the existence of cone cells also suggests that the bat retina has a functional photopic property of vision.