Special sense

physiology I
Koome Impwii
VISION

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 Photoreceptors
• Each human eye has about 6M cones
and 120 M rods
• Each has 2 segments:
– Inner
– Outer

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 Inner
• Modified cilia composed of flattened
or membranous disks
• Contain photosensitive compound

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 Outer
• Rich in mitochondria
• Synthesize photosensitive compound

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Photoreceptors cont’d

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 Photoreceptors cont’d
• The eye is able to function in a wide
range of light intensity due to:
– The presence of the 2 types of
photoreceptors
– Adjustments in the diameter of the
pupil

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 Photoreceptors cont’d
• Two inputs reach the retina -one
from the rods and one from the
cones-the duplicity theory:
– Rods –sensitive to light; responsible for
night vision(scotopic vision)
– Cones- 3 types; responsible for vision in
bright light (photopic vision) and colour
vision.

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 Pigments
• Rhodopsin
• Iodopsin
• Melanopsin

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 Rhodopsin
• Visual purple
• Photosensitive pigment in rods
• Composed of:
– Retinal-aldehyde of vitamin A
– Opsin-part of G-protein coupled
receptor

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 Rhodopsin cont’d
• In the dark retinal in rhodopsin is in
the 11 –cis configuration

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 Iodopsin
• Photosensitive pigment in cones
• There are 3 types of cones-red,
green, blue
• Each contain iodopsin containing
retinal and opsin.

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 Melanopsin
• Photopigment contained in ganglion
cells
• Serve as brightness or luminance
detectors
• Depolarize in response to light.

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 Photopigments response
to light
• Cyclic changes:
– Isomerization
– Bleaching
– Regeneration

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 Isomerization
• cis-to-trans conversion:
– In darkness, retinal has a bent shape,
called cis-retinal, which fits snugly into
the opsin portion of the photopigment.
– When cis-retinal absorbs a photon of
light, it straightens out to a shape called
trans-retinal.

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 Isomerization
• After retinal isomerizes, chemical
changes occur that lead to
production of a receptor potential

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 Bleaching
• In about a minute, trans-retinal
completely separates from opsin.
• The final products look colorless

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 Regeneration
• Retinal isomerase converts trans-
retinal back to cis-retinal
• The cis-retinal then can bind to
opsin, reforming a functional
photopigment.

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 Regeneration cont’d
• The pigmented layer of the retina
adjacent to the photoreceptors
stores a large quantity of vitamin A
and contributes to the regeneration
process in rods

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 Regeneration cont’d
• After complete bleaching,
regeneration of:
– half of the rhodopsin takes 5 minutes;
– half of the cone photopigments takes
only 90 seconds.
• Full regeneration of bleached
rhodopsin takes 30 to 40 minutes.

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 Visual Signal
transduction
• Darkness
• Light

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 Darkness
• In the dark retinal in the
rhodopsin is in cis configuration
• Light change the shape of retina
converting it to trans isomer
• This alters the configuration of
opsin

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 Darkness cont’d
• The opsin change activates a G-
protein(transducin)
• Activation of transducin activates
phosphodiesterase 6 which breaks
down cGMP resulting in a decrease in
intracellular cGMP levels

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 Darkness cont’d
• The decrease results in the closure
of cGMP- gated sodium channel
resulting in hyperpolarization.
• This results in a decrease in release
of synaptic transmitter probably
glutamate which generates a signal in
the bipolar cells

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 Darkness cont’d
• This action potential is then
transmitted to the ganglion cells.

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 light
• In the cones, light activates the cone
transducin
• Cone transducin activates
phosphodiesterases

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 Light cont’d
• Phosphodiesterase 6(PDE 6) catalyse
the hydrolysis of cGMP to 5’ GMP
thus reducing the intracellular levels
of cGMP
• This causes the closure of cGMP
dependent Na pumps resulting in
hyperpolarization.

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 Image forming
mechanisms
• Refraction
• Accommodation
• Convergence
• Pupillary response

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 Refraction
• Bending of light rays traveling
through a transparent substance
(such as air) when they pass into a
second transparent substance with a
different density (such as water)

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 Refraction cont’d
• Bending occurs at the junction
between the two substances.
• As light rays enter the eye, they are
refracted at the anterior surface of
the cornea(75%) as well as anterior
and posterior surfaces of the
lens(25%).

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 Refraction cont’d
• Refraction ensures that light rays
are refracted to a point behind the
lens(principal focus) which is on a line
passing through the centres of the
lens(principal axis)
• Distance between the lens and the
principal focus is the principal focal
distance.
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Common defects in image
formation
• Hyperopia
• Myopia
• Astigmatism

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 Hyperopia/
Far- sightedness
• Eyeball is shorter than so light rays
focus behind the retina

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Myopia/near sightedness
• Anteroposterior diameter of the
eyeball is too long hence the image
forms in-front of the retina

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 Astigmatism
• Defect in which the curvature of the
cornea is not uniform;
• Corrected by use of a cylindrical lens

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Correction of refractive
errors

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 Accommodation
• Process by which the the curvature
of the lens is increased for near
vision
• When a close object(closer than
6m/20ft) is viewed, the ciliary
muscle contracts

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 Accommodation cont’d
• This pulls the ciliary process and
choroid forward toward the lens.
• This action releases tension on the
lens and zonular fibers.

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 Accommodation cont’d
• Because it is elastic, the lens
becomes more spherical
• This increases its focusing power
and causes greater convergence of
the light rays.

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 Accommodation cont’d
• Accommodation is mediated by the
parasympathetic fibres of
Oculomotor nerve

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 Pupillary light reflexes
• When light is directed into one eye:
– The pupil constricts-direct light
response
– The pupil of the other eye also
constricts-consensual light response
– This process is mediated by oculomotor
nerve.

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 Constriction of pupil
• Narrowing of the diameter of the
hole through which light enters the
eye due to the contraction of the
circular muscles(sphincter pupillae)
of the iris.

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 Constriction of pupil
cont’d
• An autonomic reflex that occurs
simultaneously with accommodation
and prevents light rays from entering
the eye through the periphery of the
lens.

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 Convergence
• Medial movement of the two eyeballs
so that both are directed towards
the object being viewed
• The nearer the object, the greater
the degree of convergence needed to
maintain binocular vision.

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 Convergence cont’d
• The co-ordinated action of the
extrinsic eye muscles brings about
convergence.

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 Near response
• Refers to 3 part response for near
vision:
– Accommodation
– Convergence of the visual axes
– Pupillary constriction

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 Visual Neural pathway
• Axons of ganglion cells pass caudally
in the optic nerve and optic tract to
terminate in the lateral geniculate
body in the thalamus

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 Pathway cont’d
• Fibres from each nasal hemiretina
decussate at the optic chiasm
• In the geniculate body, the fibres
from the nasal half of one retina and
the temporal half of the other
synapse on the axons whose cells
form the geniculocalcarine tract

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 Pathway cont’d
• The geniculocalcarine tract passes to
the occipital lobe of the cerebral
cortex

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 Pathway cont’d
• Some ganglion cell axon bypass the
LGN to project directly to the
pretectal area-this pathway mediates
pupillary light reflex and eye
movement.

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 Pathway cont’d

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 adaptation
• Light
• Dark

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 Light adaption
• When one passes suddenly from a
dim to a brightly coloured
environment, the visual system
adjusts in seconds to the brighter
environment by decreasing its
sensitivity/threshold.

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 Dark adaptation
• When one suddenly moves to a dimly
lit environment from a brightly lit
environment, the visual system
increases its sensitivity/threshold
slowly.

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 Dark adaptation cont’d
• The sensitivity increases rapidly at
first and then more slowly over a
period of 20 minutes.

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 Dark adaptation cont’d
• Time required for dark adaptation is
determined by the time required to
build up rhodopsin stores since in
bright light rhodopsin is continuously
broken down(bleached)

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 Visual fields
• Central parts of the visual fields of
the 2 eyes coincide
• Anything in this portion of the visual
field is viewed with binocular vision-
impulses set up in the 2 retinas by
light rays from an object are fused at
the cortical level into a single
object(fusion)
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• For object to be seen binocularly, the
image must fall into the
corresponding points on the retina.

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 Eye movements
• Eye is moved within the orbit by 6
extrinsic ocular muscles:
– 4 Rectus muscles-Lateral, medial,
superior, and inferior
– 2 oblique muscles- superior and inferior
oblique muscles

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 Eye movements cont’d
• These muscles are innervated by
oculomotor, trochlear and abducens

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 Extrinsic Muscles

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 Eye movements cont’d
• There are 4 types of eye movements:
– Saccades
– Smooth pursuit
– Vestibular
– Convergence

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 Saccades
• Sudden jerky movement
• Occur as gaze shifts from one object
to another

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 Smooth pursuit
• Tracking movement of the eyes as
they follow moving objects

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 Vestibular
• Adjustments that occur in response
to stimuli initiated by the semi-
circular canals
• Maintain visual fixation as the head
moves

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 Convergence
• Bring the visual axes towards each
other as attention is focussed on
near objects.

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 THE END

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