Visual system:

Spectral sensitivity of retina

1. In the dark, the peak sensitivity is around 500nm
2. In the light, the peak sensitivity is around 555nm.
3. The rod cannot respond to white flickering light of 20Hz and above.
4. A dark adapted eye is more sensitive to blue-green light than a light adapted eye.
5. The blue, green and red cone function can be isolated respectively to a 25Hz white
flickering light in the presence of different colored steady background lights that
desensitize one or another cone system by bleaching that system(ie. Dissociating
opsin from vitamin A)

6. The blue cone system in the presence of a bright yellow steady background has a
peak sensitivity near 440nm to the 25Hz stimulus.
7. in the presence of a purple steady background light that desensitizes the blue and
red cone system, the peak sensitivity of retina is near 540 nm , thereby isolating
green cone function
8. in the presence of a blue-green steady background light that desensitize the blue
cone and green cone, the peak sensitivity of retina is near 580 nm to a 25-Hz
stimulus, thereby isolating red cone

DARK ADAPTATION

1. The unit of light energy is quanta; 50-150 quanta are needed to hit the cornea, with
about 10% reaching photoreceptor.
2. In dark adaptation, the eye becomes more sensitive to light stimulation under dark
light conditions. This occurs when the eye goes from a well-lit area to a dark area.
3. In dark adaptation, the visual pigment rhodopsin in the rods is initially bleached by
bright light and is non-functional.
4. The rhodopsin regeneration in the rods takes about 30 minutes to fully regenerate.
5. Adaptation usually takes about 20 minutes
6. Dilatation of the pupil plays a part in dark adaptation
7. The initial adaptation is due to cone adaptation
8. It is biphasic in normal people,
a. the first limb of the curve represents cone recovery
b. the second limb of the curve represents rod recovery
9. The threshold for light intensity falls. The change for light intensity threshold is
usually around 10000 folds.
10. Regeneration of cone and rods are responsible
11. Rods are approximately 1,000 times more sensitive than cones after a period of dark
adaptation. = 3 log unit
12. Peripheral retina is better at dark adaptation than the fovea
13. wearing dark glasses before entering a dark room decrease the adaptation time;
wearing red goggles before entering a dark room has a faster dark adaptation as red
goggles reduce the bleaching of rhodopsin
14. in dark adapted eye, a higher intensity of light is required to stimulate cones than
rod.
 15. The time required for dark adaptation is the time needed to build the rhodopsin
stores.
16. The response of retina of light with longer wavelengths increases with dark
adaptation and this is called purkinje shift.
17. The dark adaptation curve has 2 parts
a. Early 5-10 minutes-increase in cone sensitivity
b. Late 15-30 minutes-produced by increased rod sensitivity

LIGHT ADAPTATION

1. Light adaptation takes bout 5 minutes whereas dark adaptation takes about 20 mins
in normal people.
2. the sensitivity of the cones increases more rapidly than the rods