Summary
This research investigates how pupil size and eye movements can be used to determine brain states in sleeping mice and humans, with a focus on melanopsin-carrying intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) and their neural projections. These findings have implications for non-invasive monitoring of sleep states and understanding how ipRGC-driven pathways influence both pupillary responses and circadian entrainment.
Key Findings
- Melanopsin-carrying ipRGCs constitute approximately 1% of the retina and are characterized as slow-acting photoreceptors.
- ipRGCs project to multiple brain regions including the superior colliculus (SC), Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EW), olivary pretectal nucleus (OPN), and suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), implicating them in both pupil size regulation and broader brain state modulation.
Categories
The Science of Light: Discusses melanopsin-carrying ipRGCs as photoreceptors with projections to key brain regions involved in pupillary control and circadian regulation.
Sleep & Circadian Health: Examines brain states during sleep using pupil size and eye movements, with relevance to circadian and sleep science.
Author(s)
Ö YÜZGEÇ
Related Publications
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
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 two‐process 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