Purpose. To determine the effects of genetic background and light rearing c
onditions on intense-light-mediated retinal degeneration in young RCS rats.
Materials and methods. Albino rats, homozygous or heterozygous for the rdy
gene were bred and born in dim cyclic light. At P7 they were moved to a dar
k environment, and maintained there until exposure to intense visible (gree
n) light at P18 or P25. Other rats remained in the dim cyclic light environ
ment. At various times between P11 and P40 rats were killed for determinati
ons of rhodopsin and photoreceptor cell DNA levels, western transblot analy
sis of retinal S-antigen (arrestin) and a-transducin, or northern slot blot
analysis of their respective mRNA levels.
Results. At P18, unexposed dark maintained homozygous RCS rats and their ph
enotypically normal heterozygous counterparts have nearly equivalent rhodop
sin levels and photoreceptor cell DNA. Intense light exposure at this age,
to 8 hours of continuous light or 3 hours of intermittent light, did not le
ad to a loss of either rhodopsin or retinal DNA when compared with their re
spective unexposed controls. At P25 rhodopsin levels were higher than at P1
8, while photoreceptor cell DNA was essentially the same as in the younger
rats. However, intense light exposure at P25 resulted in substantial losses
of rhodopsin and photorecptor cell DNA and the losses were greater in homo
zygous rats than in heterozygous animals. Light damage of P25 fats maintain
ed in dim cyclic light was essentially the same as in dark maintained homoz
ygous rats, but no damage was found in the heterozygous animals. By western
analysis, alpha-transducin levels in the retina increased with time in dar
kness, while retinal S-antigen levels either remained the same or decreased
during the period P15-P35. For rats in the cyclic light environment S-anti
gen expression was greater than a-transducin at all ages. Slot blot analysi
s of mRNAs for the two proteins generally followed the patterns seen by wes
tern analysis. S-antigen mRNA was expressed at an earlier age and at higher
levels than alpha-transducin in both types of rats from both light rearing
conditions. Peak expression of S-antigen most often occurred at P18 in bot
h the heterozygous and homozygous rats.
Conclusions. The relative expressions of S-antigen and alpha-transducin in
P18 and P25 rats correlates with their relative resistance to retinal light
damage at P18 and their enhanced susceptibility at P25. Rats homozygous fo
r the rdy gene also exhibit more damage than heterozygous animals when phot
oreceptor cell DNA is used to estimate the extent of retinal light damage.