Retina-specific glucocorticoid receptor deletion disrupts rhythmic gene expression in the mouse retina under light-dark conditions

In many peripheral tissues, however, circadian clocks are influenced by temporal information conveyed by adrenal glucocorticoids, while glucocorticoid-dependent regulation of the eye clock, a light-receptive organ, has remained unclear. To investigate this mechanism, we generated retina-specific Nr3c1 (glucocorticoid receptor; GR) knockout mice by crossing Chx10-Cre mice, in which Cre-recombinase is driven by the Chx10 promoter expressed in the developing optic cup, with Nr3c1 flox/flox mice.

Using these mice, we performed time-course tissue collection under light-dark conditions followed by time-series RNA-seq analysis. The analysis showed that many rhythmic genes detected in control retina were lost in retina-specific Nr3c1-deficient mice, suggesting that glucocorticoid signaling contributes to rhythmic retinal gene expression.