Melanin in the Suppression of Blue/UV Light Induced Retinal Degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The leading cause of visual impairment is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an irreversible eye disorder that causes permanent blindness. AMD is projected to rise from 196 million to 288 million cases worldwide by 2040. AMD can be caused by high-energy light exposure, which leads to oxidative damage that deforms pigment cells protecting the retina. Like humans, Drosophila melanogaster contain varying amounts of retinal pigment. The purpose and novelty of this research is to ascertain the efficacy of various pigments against blue and UV light, and the relative severity of each light on the retina. Flies were exposed to blue and UV light to induce retinal degeneration, which was quantitatively measured through the FLEYE software by analyzing the irregularity of eye units. Results suggest that more severe retinal degeneration is caused by blue light, followed by UV, then white light across white eyes, red eyes, and sepia eyes (significant p-values of 0.00005, 0.00090, and 0.00014, respectively), and that white eyes undergo the most degeneration when exposed to blue or UV light, followed by red eyes, then sepia eyes (significant p-values of 0.04710 and 0.04765, respectively). However, pigment did not make a significant difference for flies under white light (p-value of 0.06420). Future work could investigate genes or antioxidant supplementation as potential treatments for AMD. This research provides insight into the prominence of high-energy light in inducing retinal degeneration, and the potential for retinal melanin in preventing it, improving the currently limited understanding of AMD.