Abstract
Commentary: Melanopsin Regulates Both Sleep-Promoting and Arousal-Promoting Responses to Light.
Highlights
The recent discovery of melanopsin (OPN4), a photopigment maximally sensitive to the blue spectrum of light and expressed in a subset of photosenstive retinal ganglional cells within the eye (Berson et al, 2002; Schmidt et al, 2011), paved the ground to better understand the non-image forming (NIF) effects of light
By exploiting the melanopsin knockout mouse (OPN4−/−) as compared to wildtypes, the authors could convincingly show that both opposing effects of light rely on melanopsin pRCGs through potentially different pathways: blue-light active retinal projections to the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN; central circadian pacemaker) and green-light active projections to the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO; major sleep promoting area) that mediate arousal and sleep induction, respectively (Figure 1B)
The arousing effects of blue light are consistent with human data on Melanopsin for Sleep/Arousal Promotion alertness, melatonin suppression and sleep-wake regulation (Cajochen et al, 2005; Chellappa et al, 2011, 2013)
Summary
The recent discovery of melanopsin (OPN4), a photopigment maximally sensitive to the blue spectrum of light (peak sensitivity ∼480 nm) and expressed in a subset of photosenstive retinal ganglional cells (pRGCs) within the eye (Berson et al, 2002; Schmidt et al, 2011), paved the ground to better understand the non-image forming (NIF) effects of light. A commentary on Melanopsin Regulates Both Sleep-Promoting and Arousal-Promoting Responses to Light by Pilorz, V., Tam, S. A ROLE FOR MELANOPSIN IN SLEEP AND WAKE NEURAL CIRCUITS
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