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Abstract #81306 Published in IGR 20-3

Melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells in aging and disease

Esquiva G; Hannibal J
Histology and Histopathology 2019; 0: 18138


Melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells (mRGCs) constitute a system in the mammalian retina used for irradiance detection, regulating non-image forming functions, such as photoentrainment of circadian rhythms, control of the pupillary light reflex, masking response, light-regulated melatonin secretion, and modulation of the sleep/wake cycle. There are five subtypes of mRGCs differentiated by morphology and function. Recent years of research on mRGCs have identified a broad number of neurodegenerative diseases in the eye and the brain with altered physiologic light responses, leading to disturbances of non-image forming light response(s). In this review, we briefly summarise the melanopsin system in the normal retina and discuss its role in connection to human aging (sleep/wake problems) and retinal pathology in Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, diabetic retinopathy, mitochondrial optic neuropathies, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and in photophobia during migraine and in seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Finally, we discuss the diagnostic tools that are being used to differentiate retinal diseases involving the melanopsin system in the rods and cones from the inner versus the outer retina.

Department of Optics, Pharmacology and Anatomy, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain. gema.esquiva@ua.es.

Full article

Classification:

3.6 Cellular biology (Part of: 3 Laboratory methods)
2.13 Retina and retinal nerve fibre layer (Part of: 2 Anatomical structures in glaucoma)



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