Photoinduced Changes in Subcellular Structures of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium from the Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica

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P. P. Zak^1*, N. B. Serezhnikova^1,2, L. S. Pogodina², N. N. Trofimova¹, T. S. Gur’eva³, and O. A. Dadasheva³

¹Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119934 Moscow, Russia; E-mail: pavelzak@mail.ru

²Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology, 119991 Moscow, Russia

³Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123007 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received January 12, 2015; Revision received March 10, 2015

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Fifteen-week-old sexually mature female Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) grown under various lighting conditions were used in the study. It was found that the number of mitochondria and phagosomes was increased by 1.5-fold in the retinal pigment epithelium from birds reared for 95 days under blue light (440-470 nm) vs. reduced blue light component conditions. Also, it was found that egg production was increased by 15% in birds reared under blue light compared to other lightning conditions. Thus, we concluded that blue light conditions resulted in elevating metabolic activity and accelerating pace of life in Japanese quails. It is assumed that the blue light-induced effects are probably due to inhibition of melatonin synthesis.

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KEY WORDS: retinal pigment epithelium, blue light, mitochondria, Japanese quail, electron microscopy

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297915060140

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