Blue Light and Melanopsin Contribution to the Pupil Constriction in the Blind-spot, Parafovea and Periphery

Tim Schilling, Mojtaba Soltanlou, Mojtaba Soltanlou, Yeshwanth Seshadri, Hans-Christoph Nuerk, Hans-Christoph Nuerk, Hamed Bahmani, Hamed Bahmani, Hamed Bahmani

2020

Abstract

Retinal photoreceptors modulate the pupil diameter to regulate retinal illumination. At early stage the pupil-response is formed by intrinsically-photosensitive-Retinal-Ganglion-Cells (ipRGCs) expressing melanopsin, activated by blue light. ipRGCs’ axons pass through the optic nerve head, corresponding to the blind-spot. No photoreceptors except melanopsin appear to exist in the blind-spot. Contributions of melanopsin to pupil constriction in absence of classical photoreceptors in the blind-spot is not fully understood. We investigated how blue light in the blind-spot changes melanopsin-pupil-response compared to parafovea and periphery. The Post-Illumination-Pupil-Response (PIPR) amplitude reflecting melanopsin was analyzed for standardized time windows (1s<1.7s, 1s>1.8s and 2–6s) and expressed as pupillary-change. Bayesian analysis showed a BF>3 that PIPR>1.8s for blind-spot and periphery is not different. At times 2s–6s, a t-test comparison in the blind-spot condition showed a significantly larger PIPR to blue compared to red light, confirming a melanopsin-pupil-response in the blind-spot. Taken together, equivalent stimulation in the blind-spot and periphery revealed comparable PIPR, although there are no rods and cones in the blind-spot. In absence of classical photoreceptors in the blind-spot, melanopsin seems to be responsible for pupil constriction in similar manner as in the periphery, which supports the presence of melanopsin on the axons of ipRGCs.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Schilling T., Soltanlou M., Seshadri Y., Nuerk H. and Bahmani H. (2020). Blue Light and Melanopsin Contribution to the Pupil Constriction in the Blind-spot, Parafovea and Periphery. In Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC 2020) - Volume 5: HEALTHINF; ISBN 978-989-758-398-8, SciTePress, pages 482-489. DOI: 10.5220/0008972404820489

in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf20,
author={Tim Schilling and Mojtaba Soltanlou and Yeshwanth Seshadri and Hans-Christoph Nuerk and Hamed Bahmani},
title={Blue Light and Melanopsin Contribution to the Pupil Constriction in the Blind-spot, Parafovea and Periphery},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC 2020) - Volume 5: HEALTHINF},
year={2020},
pages={482-489},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0008972404820489},
isbn={978-989-758-398-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC 2020) - Volume 5: HEALTHINF
TI - Blue Light and Melanopsin Contribution to the Pupil Constriction in the Blind-spot, Parafovea and Periphery
SN - 978-989-758-398-8
AU - Schilling T.
AU - Soltanlou M.
AU - Seshadri Y.
AU - Nuerk H.
AU - Bahmani H.
PY - 2020
SP - 482
EP - 489
DO - 10.5220/0008972404820489
PB - SciTePress