A role for cyclic AMP in entrainment of the circadian oscillator in Xenopus retinal photoreceptors by dopamine but not by light

The circadian oscillator in Xenopus retinal photoreceptor layers can be reset in similar ways by light and agonists of D2-like dopamine receptors. Treatments that increase cyclic AMP levels act on this oscillator in an opposite fashion, mimicking darkness in the induction of phase shifts. Light and dopamine have each been reported to inhibit adenylate cyclase in photoreceptors. Together, these data suggest that the transduction pathways for entrainment by dopamine and/or light include suppression of cyclic AMP or a cyclic AMP-sensitive step. In these studies, we examined this hypothesis by measuring the effects of treatment with a cyclic AMP analogue on the phase shifts induced in photoreceptor melatonin rhythms by light or a D2 receptor agonist (quinpirole). When photoreceptor layers were treated simultaneously with 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)cyclic AMP (8-CPT-cAMP) and quinpirole at any of three different phases of the circadian cycle, the resulting phase shifts of the melatonin rhythm were always the same as those caused by 8-CPT-cAMP alone. This indicates that there is a cyclic AMP-sensitive step in the dopamine entrainment pathway. In contrast, light pulses did reset the oscillator in the presence of elevated cyclic AMP. This suggests a separate cyclic AMP-insensitive transduction pathway for entrainment by light. Quinpirole reduced basal levels of cyclic AMP in photoreceptors, but light did not. These data suggest that cyclic AMP plays a role in the entrainment pathway activated by dopamine but not in the entrainment pathway activated by light.