Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Short-Wavelength Light Sensitivity Of Circadian, Pupillary, And Visual Awareness In Humans Lacking An Outer Retina, Farhan H. Zaidi, Joseph T. Hull, Stuart N. Peirson, Katharina Wulff, Daniel Aeschbach, Joshua J. Gooley, George C. Brainard, Kevin Gregory-Evans, Joseph F. Rizzo Iii, Charles A. Czeisler, Russell G. Foster, Merrick J. Moseley, Steven W. Lockley

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

As the ear has dual functions for audition and balance, the eye has a dual role in detecting light for a wide range of behavioral and physiological functions separate from sight. These responses are driven primarily by stimulation of photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs) that are most sensitive to short-wavelength ( approximately 480 nm) blue light and remain functional in the absence of rods and cones. We examined the spectral sensitivity of non-image-forming responses in two profoundly blind subjects lacking functional rods and cones (one male, 56 yr old; one female, 87 yr old). In the male subject, we found …