The light peak of the electroretinogram is dependent on voltage-gated calcium channels and antagonized by bestrophin (best-1).

Abstract

Mutations in VMD2, encoding bestrophin (best-1), cause Best vitelliform macular dystrophy (BMD), adult-onset vitelliform macular dystrophy (AVMD), and autosomal dominant vitreoretinochoroidopathy (ADVIRC). BMD is distinguished from AVMD by a diminished electrooculogram light peak (LP) in the absence of changes in the flash electroretinogram. Although the LP is thought to be generated by best-1, we find enhanced LP luminance responsiveness with normal amplitude in Vmd2-/- mice and no differences in cellular Cl- currents in comparison to Vmd2+/+ littermates. The putative Ca2+ sensitivity of best-1, and our recent observation that best-1 alters the kinetics of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (VDCC), led us to examine the role of VDCCs in the LP. Nimodipine diminished the LP, leading us to survey VDCC beta-subunit mutant mice. Lethargic mice, which harbor a loss of function mutation in the beta4 subunit of VDCCs, exhibited a significant shift in LP luminance response, establishing a role for Ca2+ in LP generation. When stimulated with ATP, which increases [Ca++]I, retinal pigment epithelial cells derived from Vmd2-/- mice exhibited a fivefold greater response than Vmd2+/+ littermates, indicating that best-1 can suppress the rise in [Ca2+]I associated with the LP. We conclude that VDCCs regulated by a beta4 subunit are required to generate the LP and that best-1 antagonizes the LP luminance response potentially via its ability to modulate VDCC function. Furthermore, we suggest that the loss of vision associated with BMD is not caused by the same pathologic process as the diminished LP, but rather is caused by as yet unidentified effects of best-1 on other cellular processes.

• Authors: Lihua Y Marmorstein, Jiang Wu, Precious McLaughlin, John Yocom, Mike O Karl, Rudgar Neussert, Soenke Wimmers, J Brett Stanton, Ronald G Gregg, Olaf Strauss, Neal S Peachey, Alan D Marmorstein
• Journal: The Journal of general physiology (J Gen Physiol) Vol. 127 Issue 5 Pg. 577-89 (May 2006) ISSN: 0022-1295 [Print] United States
• PMID: 16636205 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Best1 protein, mouse
• Bestrophins
• Calcium Channel Blockers
• Calcium Channels
• Chloride Channels
• Eye Proteins
• Ion Channels
• Nimodipine
• Adenosine Triphosphate
• Calcium

Topics

• Adenosine Triphosphate (pharmacology)
• Animals
• Bestrophins
• Calcium (analysis)
• Calcium Channel Blockers (pharmacology)
• Calcium Channels (drug effects, physiology)
• Chloride Channels (physiology)
• Electrophysiology
• Electroretinography (methods)
• Eye Proteins (genetics, physiology)
• Immunohistochemistry
• Ion Channels
• Light
• Mice
• Mice, Mutant Strains
• Mutation
• Nimodipine (pharmacology)
• Patch-Clamp Techniques
• Phenotype
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction