Abstract:
Objective To understand the relationship between taurine intake and mRNA expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 6(mGluR6)in rat retinas in daylight and dimlight.
Methods 36 ablactation Wistar rats were divided into three groups:normal control, low and high dose taurine treatment groups(supplementation of 0.3% or 0.6% taurine per kilogram rat diet respectively).After 4 weeks, reverse transcription poly merase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was used to study mRNA expression of mGluR 6 in rat retinas in daylight and dimlight.
Results mRNA expression of mGluR6 in dim light was higher than that in day light.0.3% and 0.6% taurine markedly increased mRNA expression of mGluR 6, especially in daylight.High dose taurine had strongereffect than low dose in daylight, but noremarkable difference was observed between 0.3% and 0.6% taurine treatment groups in dimlight.
Conclusion Taurine increases mRNA expression of mGluR6 in daylight and dimlight in rat retinas, which helps taurine to modulate the rod visual signal transmission in rat.