Science: heavyweight! Scientists have identified special cells in the eyes that can help the brain distinguish between day and night!

December 8, 2019 news / Bio Valley bio on / -- the strong light at night will disturb the normal circadian rhythms of the body, which will cause insomnia; in fact, the circadian probability plays an important role in the health of the body Interfering with the circadian rhythms often increases the risk of multiple diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, depression Therefore, understanding the mechanism of human eyes' perception of light may help to prevent depression, promote sleep at night and maintain a healthy circadian rhythm Photo source: sak Institute recently published an international magazine Science In the previous study, scientists from the Salk Institute found three cell types in the eye, which can help detect light and keep the circadian rhythm of the brain consistent with the surrounding light In this study, the researchers evaluated the intrinsic photoreceptor retinal ganglion cells (iprgcs) for the first time The response of cells of ganglion cells to light and its important application to human health Researcher Satchidananda Panda said: 'now we have basically become indoor species We have separated ourselves from the natural cycle of the day and the almost complete dark environment at night Understanding the response of iprgcs cells to the quality, quantity, duration and order of light may help us better provide lighting for newborn ICUs, ICUs, schools and other places At the same time, it can help us to further research and develop new phototherapy Treat many kinds of diseases, such as insomnia, depression, etc In this paper, the researchers revealed three types of iprgcs The first type of cells has a faster response to light, but a longer closing time, while the second type has a longer opening and closing time The third type of cells will respond when the light is very bright, but it can be turned on very quickly and can be turned off immediately after the light disappears Understanding the function of each iprgcs cell may help researchers design better lighting conditions or therapies to turn these cells on / off The researchers point out that iprgcs cells are responsible for transmitting light signals to the brain, even in people who lack rods and cones In the population with normal rods and cones, iprgcs cells can actually work closely with these cells This study shows that iprgcs cells can combine the light signals detected by rods and cones, so as to increase the brightness and contrast information for the information we see In the later stage, we will also study the net output of these cells under different light colors, intensities and durations, for example, comparing their response to short pulses and long time (several minutes) In addition, the researchers are very interested in studying how these cells respond to light sequences, such as blue light to orange light, which will simulate our response in nature The light of dawn and dusk Finally, the researchers said that repeating these experiments in different age of donor retina tissue may help us understand whether the function of iprgcs cells in young and old individuals is different, which may help to design indoor lighting to achieve better day night synchronization of the body, and even help improve the mood of the elderly and dementia patients Original sources: Ludovic s MURE, Frans vinberg, Anne hanneken, et al Functional diversity of human internally photosensory residual ganglia cells, science 06 Dec 2019: Vol 366, issue 6470, pp 1251-1255doi: 10.1126/science.aaz0898