Nature Publication: retinal ganglion cells and the circadian clock
Summer 2008
Dr Gurprit Lall (Biological Sciences) is joint first author of a recent publication in Nature on the importance of melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells in non-image forming vision (Guler et al 2008, Nature 453: 102-105). The mammalian retina has three types of light sensing cells, rods, cones and melanopsin containing retinal ganglion cells. Rods and cones are involved in vision but also contribute to non-image forming visual events such as circadian photo-entrainment and the pupillary light reflex. In this study, together with colleagues in Manchester and the USA, Dr Lall has shown that melanopsin containing retinal ganglion cells act as conduits for rod and cone input to non-image-forming vision. According to an accompanying editorial in Nature, this finding implies that people with troubled sleep or seasonal depression might benefit from light detection and melatonin suppression tests even if they are normally sighted.
