Leptin is a critical regulator of energy balance in mammals and has served as a launch point for innumerable studies examining the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure (1). At high physiological concentrations, leptin causes a decrease in food intake, an increase in energy expenditure, and a shift to increased fatty acid oxidation. These physiological shifts lead to a decrease in bo...

Signal transduction is about how molecular mechanisms in cells are used to receive, process and respond to signals from outside and inside of the cell. The term signal is defined in a dual way in this context: being the molecular state of a molecule, e.g. a protein, and at the same time an abstract logical state (active/inactive). This thesis focuses on intracellular signalling: i.e. receiving ...

The electroretinogram (ERG) is an electrical potential of retinal origin elicited by a visual stimulus. The basis of the ERG is the same photochemical process that leads to the neural response of the retina and the visual system1: photon absorptions in the photoreceptoral opsin pigments2. In addition, it is a purely retinal response that reflects the retinal physiology. It is not surprising tha...