How Does Light Regulate Mood and Behavioral State?

The idea that light affects mood and behavioral state is not new. However, not much is known about the particular mechanisms and circuits involved. To fully understand these, we need to know what properties of light are important for mediating changes in mood as well as what photoreceptors and pathways are responsible. Increasing evidence from both human and animal studies imply that a specialized class of retinal ganglion cells, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), plays an important role in the light-regulated effects on mood and behavioral state, which is in line with their well-established roles in other non-visual responses (pupillary light reflex and circadian photoentrainment). This paper reviews our current understanding on the mechanisms and paths by which the light information modulates behavioral state and mood.

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Delayed response of human melanopsin retinal ganglion cells on the pupillary light reflex

Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics ◽

10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00846.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 469-479 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Sei-ichi Tsujimura ◽

Yuta Tokuda

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Pupillary Light Reflex ◽

Delayed Response ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Light Reflex ◽

Pupillary Light

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The influence of intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells on the spectral sensitivity and response dynamics of the human pupillary light reflex

Vision Research ◽

10.1016/j.visres.2009.10.012 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 72-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 122

Author(s):

David H. McDougal ◽

Paul D. Gamlin

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Spectral Sensitivity ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Pupillary Light Reflex ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Response Dynamics ◽

Light Reflex ◽

Pupillary Light

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Glutamatergic Neurotransmission from Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells Is Required for Neonatal Photoaversion but Not Adult Pupillary Light Reflex

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0083974 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. e83974 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Anton Delwig ◽

Sriparna Majumdar ◽

Kelly Ahern ◽

Matthew M. LaVail ◽

Robert Edwards ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Pupillary Light Reflex ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Glutamatergic Neurotransmission ◽

Light Reflex ◽

Pupillary Light

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Photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells control the information rate of the optic nerve

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1810701115 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 115 (50) ◽

pp. E11817-E11826 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Nina Milosavljevic ◽

Riccardo Storchi ◽

Cyril G. Eleftheriou ◽

Andrea Colins ◽

Rasmus S. Petersen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optic Nerve ◽

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Information Flow ◽

Information Transfer ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Ambient Light ◽

Visual Responses ◽

Light Irradiance ◽

The Brain

Information transfer in the brain relies upon energetically expensive spiking activity of neurons. Rates of information flow should therefore be carefully optimized, but mechanisms to control this parameter are poorly understood. We address this deficit in the visual system, where ambient light (irradiance) is predictive of the amount of information reaching the eye and ask whether a neural measure of irradiance can therefore be used to proactively control information flow along the optic nerve. We first show that firing rates for the retina’s output neurons [retinal ganglion cells (RGCs)] scale with irradiance and are positively correlated with rates of information and the gain of visual responses. Irradiance modulates firing in the absence of any other visual signal confirming that this is a genuine response to changing ambient light. Irradiance-driven changes in firing are observed across the population of RGCs (including in both ON and OFF units) but are disrupted in mice lacking melanopsin [the photopigment of irradiance-coding intrinsically photosensitive RGCs (ipRGCs)] and can be induced under steady light exposure by chemogenetic activation of ipRGCs. Artificially elevating firing by chemogenetic excitation of ipRGCs is sufficient to increase information flow by increasing the gain of visual responses, indicating that enhanced firing is a cause of increased information transfer at higher irradiance. Our results establish a retinal circuitry driving changes in RGC firing as an active response to alterations in ambient light to adjust the amount of visual information transmitted to the brain.

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Inverse oculomotor responses of achiasmatic mice expressing a transfer-defective Vax1 mutant

10.1101/2020.10.20.346551 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kwang Wook Min ◽

Namsuk Kim ◽

Jae Hoon Lee ◽

Younghoon Sung ◽

Museong Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Optic Chiasm ◽

Stereoscopic Vision ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Visual Responses ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Optic Stalk ◽

Intercellular Transfer ◽

Oculomotor Responses

ABSTRACTIn animals that exhibit stereoscopic visual responses, the axons of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) connect to brain areas bilaterally by forming a commissure called the optic chiasm (OC). Ventral anterior homeobox 1 (Vax1) contributes to formation of the OC, acting endogenously in optic pathway cells and exogenously in growing RGC axons. Here, we generated Vax1AA/AA mice expressing the Vax1AA mutant, which is selectively incapable of intercellular transfer. We found that RGC axons cannot take up Vax1AA protein from Vax1AA/AA mouse optic stalk (OS) cells, of which maturation is delayed, and fail to access the midline. Consequently, RGC axons of Vax1AA/AA mice connect exclusively to ipsilateral brain areas, resulting in the loss of stereoscopic vision and the inversed oculomotor responses. Together, our study provides physiological evidence for the necessity of intercellular transfer of Vax1 and the importance of the OC in binocular visual responses.

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Physiological characterization of a rare subpopulation of doublet-spiking neurons in the ferret lateral geniculate nucleus

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00191.2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 124 (2) ◽

pp. 432-442

Author(s):

Allison J. Murphy ◽

J. Michael Hasse ◽

Farran Briggs

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Visual Response ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Visual Responses ◽

Response Properties ◽

Physiological Characterization ◽

Visual Thalamus ◽

Spike Shape

Interest in visual system homologies across species has recently increased. Across species, retinas contain diverse retinal ganglion cells including cells with unusual visual response properties. It is unclear whether rare retinal ganglion cells in carnivores project to and drive similarly unique visual responses in the visual thalamus. We discovered a rare subpopulation of thalamic neurons defined by unique spike shape and visual response properties, suggesting that nonstandard visual computations are common to many species.

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Different Inner Retinal Pathways Mediate Rod-Cone Input in Irradiance Detection for the Pupillary Light Reflex and Regulation of Behavioral State in Mice

Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science ◽

10.1167/iovs.10-6146 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 52 (1) ◽

pp. 618 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Stewart Thompson ◽

Steven F. Stasheff ◽

Jasmine Hernandez ◽

Erik Nylen ◽

Jade S. East ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pupillary Light Reflex ◽

Behavioral State ◽

Light Reflex ◽

Pupillary Light ◽

Retinal Pathways

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The pupillary light reflex in normal and innate microstrabismic cats, II: Retinal and cortical input to the nucleus praetectalis olivaris

Visual Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/s0952523800004454 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 139-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

C. Distler ◽

K.-P. Hoffmann

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Visual Field ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Pupillary Light Reflex ◽

Binocular Summation ◽

Cortical Input ◽

Light Reflex ◽

Pupillary Light ◽

Upper Visual Field

AbstractThe anatomical substrate of the pupillary light reflex was investigated in normal and innate microstrabismic cats using anatomical methods as well as electrical stimulation. The bilateral retinal input to the nucleus praetectalis olivaris (NPO), the pretectal relay station in the subcortical pupilloconstrictor pathway, was identified to come from the ventral retina where the upper visual field is represented. Orthodromic electrical stimulation revealed that retinal information is transmitted to on-tonic neurons in the NPO mainly via slowly conducting axons probably originating from W- and X-type retinal ganglion cells.For the first time, a direct cortical input to on-tonic neurons in the NPO could be demonstrated. This cortical input originates from caudolateral parts of the occipital cortex. Putative input structures are those subdivisions of areas 19 and 20a where the upper part of the visual field is represented.A direct, predominantly contralateral projection with a weak ipsilateral component from NPO to the nucleus of Edinger-Westphal, and an interhemispheric connection between the NPOs could be demonstrated. With respect to the anatomical connections as described in this study, no differences between normal and innate microstrabismic cats could be found.The results are discussed with respect to the binocular summation of the pupillary light reflex and its reduction in subjects with impaired binocular vision.

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