Production of energy in a cell must keep pace with demand.Photoreceptors use ATP to maintain ion gradients in darkness, whereas in light they use it to support phototransduction. Matching production with consumption can be accomplished by coupling production directly to consumption. Alternatively, production can be set by a signal that anticipates demand. In this report we investigate the hypothesis that signaling through phototransduction controls production of energy in mouse retinas. We found that respiration in mouse retinas is not coupled tightly to ATP consumption. By analyzing metabolic flux in mouse retinas, we also found that phototransduction slows metabolic flux through glycolysis and through intermediates of the citric acid cycle. We also evaluated the relative contributions of regulation of the activities of ␣-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and the aspartate-glutamate carrier 1. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the retinal metabolome showed that phototransduction also influences steady-state concentrations of 5-GMP, ribose-5-phosphate, ketone bodies, and purines.
Warburg et al.(1) and Krebs (2) reported in the 1920s that tumors and retinas rely on aerobic glycolysis. Some of the biochemical mechanisms by which cancer cells adapt to aerobic glycolysis have been gleaned from investigations of specific metabolic adaptations of cancer cells either in culture or in a tumor (3, 4). Retinas offer distinct advantages for investigating aerobic glycolysis. They have high metabolic rates, a uniquely laminated structure, and the primary signaling pathway by which retinas respond to light is defined clearly.Retinas convert 80 -96% of glucose they consume into lactic acid (5-9), similar to the extent of aerobic glycolysis that fuels cancer cells (3). Aerobic glycolysis occurs primarily in photoreceptors (10) where the energy demands are very different in darkness than in light (5,7,(11)(12)(13). In darkness energy is consumed within the inner segments to support ion pumping (5, 13). In light energy is consumed by the outer segments (OS) 2 to support phototransduction and regeneration of visual pigments. A photoreceptor neuron also performs anabolic metabolism to replace the ϳ10% of its OS material that is lost each day to phagocytosis by the retinal pigmented epithelium (14, 15).Some of the carbons in glucose consumed by a retina reach the mitochondrial matrix where they are oxidized in biochemical reactions that reduce NAD ϩ to NADH. Transfer of electrons from NADH to O 2 then generates a proton gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane. In some tissues dissipation of the proton gradient is coupled tightly to ATP demand. In others, proton leakage can dissipate the gradient even without ATP synthesis (16). In this report we show that mitochondria in retinas are more uncoupled than mitochondria in other tissues.The ability of a photoreceptor to respond to light, to release neurotransmitter, to regenerate visual pigment, to renew itself, and to remain viable requires that production of energy keeps pace...