Human Physiology

Dr. Jimena Aracena

Chapter 10:
Sensory Physiology
9CSensoryPhoto
IV. Vision
Visible light is one type of electromagnetic
energy:
 Light is a very small portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum:
• Electromagnetic energy has different wavelengths.
• Visible light has wavelengths from 400 to 700 nm.
• The smaller the wavelength, the more energy.
• Too much energy can harm cells, too little energy will not be perceived.
 Anatomy of the eye:
• The eye has photoreceptor cells in the retina that transduce
electromagnetic energy into action potentials.
• The retina is really an outgrowth of the brain.
• The eye also functions as a camera. It focuses light on the retina using
lenses and an aperture (pupil) that can be adjusted.
• Vision is the process through which light reflected from objects in our
environment is translated into a mental image.
The internal anatomy of the eye:
The retina seen through the pupil with an
ophthalmoscope:
 The retina seen through the pupil:

• The optic disk is the location where blood vessels and neurons of the
visual pathway that form the optic nerve exit the eye.
• The optic disk lacks photoreceptors and is the cause of the blind spot.
• The fovea is the area of the retina with the highest concentration of
photoreceptors and therefore the region of sharpest vision.
 Light is refracted (bent) when it passes between
media of different densities (refractive indices)
• Air has a refractive index
of 1 but the cornea,
aqueous humor, and lens
have refractive indices > 1.
• The visual field is the part
of the external world
projected onto the retina.
• Refraction causes the
image to be inverted in the
retina.
 The image is also switched
right to left on the retina:
• The left side of the visual
field is projected onto the
right side of both retinas.
• However, the left side of
the retina sends
information to the left
hemisphere.
• Note that the nerves
cross at the optic
chiasma.
 The pupil:

• Is the opening in the iris that regulates the amount of light that hits
the retina.
• The pupil is regulated by circular and radial muscles in the iris, which
are controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
• The diameter of the pupil can vary from 1.5 to 8 mm. The darker, the
larger the pupil. When fully open, the pupil has an area 28 x bigger
than when most constricted.
 The iris has circular and radial
muscles that dilate or constrict the
pupil:
• In dim light, radial muscles
contract and open the pupil
and let more light in.
Stimulated by the
sympathetic NS.
• In bright light, circular
muscles contract to close
the pupil and keep light out.
Stimulated by the
parasympathetic NS.
 Accommodation: The ciliary
muscle and the zonular fibers can
change the shape of the lens
Accommodation: To
see close-up, the lens
changes shape to
change refraction
• To see far: relax the
ciliary muscle, which
pulls on zonular fibers
and flattens the lens.
• To see close: contract
the ciliary muscle, which
lets the zonular fibers
relax and makes the lens
more spherical.
 Near point and presbyopia:

• The ability of a person to accommodate is measured by

the near point of vision: the minimum distance from
the eyes at which an object can be brought into focus.
• After the age of 45 most people lose the ability to
accommodate. This is called presbyopia.
• The main cause: loss of flexibility of the lens.
• Solution: Reading glasses, which are magnifying lenses
to see small objects at close distance.
 Visual acuity is the sharpness of vision
• Visual acuity depends on the resolving power: the
ability to distinguish (resolve) two closely spaced
dots.
• .. .. .. .. ..

• Visual acuity can be measured by a Snellen eye

chart. A person stands 20 ft from the chart and
reads lines of letters, numbers or shapes, of
decreasing size.
• Being able to read the line of letters that the
average person can read from 20 ft, means that you
have 20/20 vision.
Myopia and hyperopia depend on eye
length. Astigmatism depends on cornea
shape.
Retina:
The retina has 5 layers
of sensory cells and a
pigment epithelium:
• The light must pass
through:
• Ganglion cells
• Amacrine cells
• Bipolar cells
• And horizontal cells, to
reach:
• Photoreceptor cells:
• Rods (vision in dim light)
• Cones (color vision)
Rods and cones have an outer and an inner
segment
 Effect of light on the rods:

• Each rod has membranous discs

in the outer segment.
• The discs are full of 1000s of
rhodopsin molecules.
• Rhodopsin absorbs bue-green
light best (500nm wavelength).
• Green objects are better seen
in the dark than red objects.
 Effect of light on rhodopsin:
• Rhodopsin has two parts:
• Retinal
• Opsin
• When light hits rhodopsin,
retinal changes shape and
dissociates from opsin.
• 11-cis retinal changes
shape to all-trans-retinal.
• This is the bleaching
reaction
 Light effect on rhodopsin (cont.):
• When retinal changes shape from 11-cis to all-trans, this
causes retinal to separate from opsin.
• This causes G-proteins to activate secondary messengers
that close voltage gated Na+ channels. The cell
hyperpolarizes and releases less neurotransmitters.
• The voltage gated channels for Na+ that are normally open
in the dark are closed in the light.
• In the dark, photoreceptors release inhibitory
neurotransmitter.
• In the light, photoreceptors stop inhibition so that APs are
sent to the brain.
In the dark: Na+ enters the cell (depolarized) = release
inhibitory NTs
In the light: Na+ stopped (hyperpolarized)= stop release
of inhibitory NTs
• In the dark Na+ channels
are open, rod releases
inhibitory NTs, bipolar
cells and ganglion cells are
not activated.
• In the light Na+ channels
close, rod stops release of
inhibitory NTs, bipolar and
ganglion cells are
activated.
 Cones and colorvision:
• Cones are less sensitive to light but there are 3 types of
cones that allow trichromatic vision:
• Blue
• Green
• Red
• Cones also have retinal, but instead of opsin, retinal is
associated with 3 different kinds of photopsins (3
different proteins coded by 3 different genes)
• The presence/absence of these genes can determine
whether someone can see in color.
Each type of cone absorbs maximally a
different wavelength
 The brain determines the quality of
vision (colors) by which cones send
APs.:
Light absorption is
proportional to the
frequency of APs sent to
the brain by the retinal
cells.
White: the three types of
cones are sending APs.
Black: no APs sent to the
brain.
 The brain determines the quality of vision
(colors) by which cones send APs.: (cont.)
Green: green cones send
lots of APs and red and/or
blue cones also send few
APs.

Purple: red and blue but

not green cones are
sending APs.
Visible light:
The fovea is a tiny part of the retina
used to “track” objects
 There is no
convergence in
the fovea cones
(higher
There is a lot of resolution).
convergence in
the periphery of
the retina (rods).
 3D vision:
• Optic nerves from the eyes go to
the optic chiasma in the brain,
where some of the fibers cross to
the opposite side.
• The neurons of the optic nerves
synapse with other neurons (the
optic tract) at the thalamus
(lateral geniculate body).
• The optic tract neurons go to the
visual cortex in the occipital lobe.
Two eyes are needed for
binocular vision.
Each eye has a slightly
different angle of the
object seen.
The brain compares both
figures.
If they are more different,
the object is closer.
 To see some cool optical illusions and read about
how they work, go to:

• http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/