Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout?
When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. School of Medicine vision scientists have identified an intricate process that allows the human eye to adapt to darkness very quickly. The same process also allows the eye to function in bright light.
The discovery could contribute to a better understanding of human diseases that affect the retina, including age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 50. That's because the disease and the pathway the researchers have identified both involve cells called cone cells.
"Age-related macular degeneration may be modulated, perhaps, through this pathway researchers have identified in the retina," said principal investigator Vladimir J. Kefalov, Ph.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and principal investigator. "Deficiencies in this pathway affect cone cells, and so does macular degeneration, so it's possible that if we could enhance activity in this pathway, we could prevent or reverse some of that damage to cone cells," Kefalov said.
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