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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Neurochem. 2009 May 19;110(2):756–764. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2009.06184.x

Fig. 4. Regulation of pineal Mbnl2 transcripts by a photoneural mechanism.

Fig. 4

Each lane contains 3 μg total RNA obtained from a pool of two pineal glands. Northern blots were probed with a rat Mbnl2 probe. To normalize for variations in RNA loading, the blot was reprobed for 18S rRNA. Results are presented as the mean ± SE of three replicates. For further details see the Materials and Methods section. A. The nocturnal increase in Mbnl2 mRNA is driven by neural input from the SCG. Pineal RNA was obtained from Sham, DCNT, and SCGX rats killed during the day (ZT7) or at night (ZT19). In addition, one group of SCGX rats was injected with 1 mg/kg NE at ZT16 and killed 3 hours later with the other nighttime experimental group. *, p < 0.01 vs. Sham Night group. B. Effect of light exposure at night on Mbnl2 mRNA level in the rat pineal gland. Rats were housed in a controlled lighting environment (LD 14:10). Pineal glands were obtained during the day (ZT7), at night (ZT19) in the dark, after 1 hr light pulse (LP) or after 5 hr of prolonged light (PL). *, p < 0.01 vs. Night group. For further details see the Materials and Methods section.