Summary
This research suggests that chronic opioid use may disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms by directly acting on mu-opioid receptors expressed by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), impairing their light-signaling function. For lighting designers and healthcare providers treating opioid-dependent patients, this implies that standard circadian lighting interventions may be less effective unless the retinal pathway disruption is accounted for.
Key Findings
- Mu-opioid receptors (MORs) are expressed by ipRGCs, and chronic opioid activation of these receptors may persistently alter ipRGC-mediated signaling
- Opioid-induced dysfunction of ipRGCs is proposed as a retinal mechanism underlying chronic opioid-associated sleep/wake disturbances
- Specific quantitative results are not available from the abstract alone
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Investigates how opioids acting on ipRGC mu-opioid receptors (MORs) may disrupt circadian entrainment and sleep/wake cycles.
The Science of Light: Focuses on ipRGC biology and how MOR activation on these photoreceptors alters their function, directly relevant to photoreceptor physiology.
Author(s)
N Bergum
Publication Year
2023
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice