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Brief Communication

Nature Neuroscience 4, 1165 (1 December 2001) | doi:10.1038/nn768

Melanopsin in cells of origin of the retinohypothalamic tract

Joshua J. Gooley , Jun Lu , Thomas C. Chou , Thomas E. Scammell & Clifford B. Saper

All known eukaryotic organisms exhibit physiological and behavioral rhythms termed circadian rhythms that cycle with a near-24-hour period; in mammals, light is the most potent stimulus for entraining endogenous rhythms to the daily light cycle. Photic information is transmitted via the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT) to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus, where circadian rhythms are generated, but the retinal photopigment that mediates circadian entrainment has remained elusive.