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Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors

Light plays a critical role in regulating physiology and behavior, including both visual and non-visual responses. In mammals, loss of both eyes abolishes all of these responses, demonstrating that the photoreceptors involved are exclusively ocular. By contrast, many non-mammalian species possess ex...

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Autores principales: Bridge, Holly, Morjaria, Rupal, Peirson, Stuart N., Coullon, Gaelle S. L., Warnaby, Catherine E., Pothecary, Carina A., Leatherbarrow, Brian, Foster, Russell G., Downes, Susan M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508779/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34650401
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.744543
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author Bridge, Holly
Morjaria, Rupal
Peirson, Stuart N.
Coullon, Gaelle S. L.
Warnaby, Catherine E.
Pothecary, Carina A.
Leatherbarrow, Brian
Foster, Russell G.
Downes, Susan M.
author_facet Bridge, Holly
Morjaria, Rupal
Peirson, Stuart N.
Coullon, Gaelle S. L.
Warnaby, Catherine E.
Pothecary, Carina A.
Leatherbarrow, Brian
Foster, Russell G.
Downes, Susan M.
author_sort Bridge, Holly
collection PubMed
description Light plays a critical role in regulating physiology and behavior, including both visual and non-visual responses. In mammals, loss of both eyes abolishes all of these responses, demonstrating that the photoreceptors involved are exclusively ocular. By contrast, many non-mammalian species possess extra-ocular photoreceptors located in the pineal complex and deep brain. Whilst there have been suggestions of extra-ocular photoreception in mammals, including man, evidence for these photoreceptors is limited. One approach to objectively determine the presence of such receptors is to measure brain responses to light using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Moreover, by using participants who are clinically anophthalmic (congenital and acquired), it is possible to investigate potential light detection in the absence of the retina. Here we scanned participants with anophthalmia and sighted participants in 4 different conditions; the first 3 conditions had a bright light source applied to the following locations: behind the right ear (“ear”), just below the nasal bridge and between the eyes (“head”), and at the right popliteal fossa (“knee”). In the fourth and final scan, the light source was switched off so that there was no light stimulus. All participants were scanned in a completely dark room. No consistent brain activity was detected during any of the light conditions in either sighted controls or anophthalmic participants. Thus, we do not provide any evidence for the presence of extraocular photoreceptors modulating human brain activity, despite recent evidence for gene transcription that may occur as a result of these photoreceptors.
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spelling pubmed-85087792021-10-13 Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors Bridge, Holly Morjaria, Rupal Peirson, Stuart N. Coullon, Gaelle S. L. Warnaby, Catherine E. Pothecary, Carina A. Leatherbarrow, Brian Foster, Russell G. Downes, Susan M. Front Neurosci Neuroscience Light plays a critical role in regulating physiology and behavior, including both visual and non-visual responses. In mammals, loss of both eyes abolishes all of these responses, demonstrating that the photoreceptors involved are exclusively ocular. By contrast, many non-mammalian species possess extra-ocular photoreceptors located in the pineal complex and deep brain. Whilst there have been suggestions of extra-ocular photoreception in mammals, including man, evidence for these photoreceptors is limited. One approach to objectively determine the presence of such receptors is to measure brain responses to light using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Moreover, by using participants who are clinically anophthalmic (congenital and acquired), it is possible to investigate potential light detection in the absence of the retina. Here we scanned participants with anophthalmia and sighted participants in 4 different conditions; the first 3 conditions had a bright light source applied to the following locations: behind the right ear (“ear”), just below the nasal bridge and between the eyes (“head”), and at the right popliteal fossa (“knee”). In the fourth and final scan, the light source was switched off so that there was no light stimulus. All participants were scanned in a completely dark room. No consistent brain activity was detected during any of the light conditions in either sighted controls or anophthalmic participants. Thus, we do not provide any evidence for the presence of extraocular photoreceptors modulating human brain activity, despite recent evidence for gene transcription that may occur as a result of these photoreceptors. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8508779/ /pubmed/34650401 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.744543 Text en Copyright © 2021 Bridge, Morjaria, Peirson, Coullon, Warnaby, Pothecary, Leatherbarrow, Foster and Downes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Bridge, Holly
Morjaria, Rupal
Peirson, Stuart N.
Coullon, Gaelle S. L.
Warnaby, Catherine E.
Pothecary, Carina A.
Leatherbarrow, Brian
Foster, Russell G.
Downes, Susan M.
Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title_full Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title_fullStr Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title_full_unstemmed Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title_short Functional Brain Imaging During Extra-Ocular Light Stimulation in Anophthalmic and Sighted Participants: No Evidence for Extra-Ocular Photosensitive Receptors
title_sort functional brain imaging during extra-ocular light stimulation in anophthalmic and sighted participants: no evidence for extra-ocular photosensitive receptors
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508779/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34650401
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.744543
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