Modeling Circadian Phototransduction: Quantitative Predictions of Psychophysical Data

A revised computational model of circadian phototransduction is presented. The first step was to characterize the spectral sensitivity of the retinal circuit using suppression of the synthesis of melatonin by the pineal gland at night as the outcome measure. From the spectral sensitivity, circadian...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in neuroscience Vol. 15; p. 615322
Main Authors Rea, Mark S, Nagare, Rohan, Figueiro, Mariana G
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 05.02.2021
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects
circadian light
Circadian rhythms
circadian stimulus
Computational neuroscience
Efficiency
Hypothesis testing
Light
light at night
Melatonin
melatonin suppression
Neuroscience
non-image forming effects of light
Phototransduction
Pineal gland
Psychophysics
Retina
light at night
melatonin suppression
circadian stimulus
non-image forming effects of light
circadian light
phototransduction
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:A revised computational model of circadian phototransduction is presented. The first step was to characterize the spectral sensitivity of the retinal circuit using suppression of the synthesis of melatonin by the pineal gland at night as the outcome measure. From the spectral sensitivity, circadian light was defined. Circadian light, thereby rectifies any spectral power distribution into a single, instantaneous photometric quantity. The second step was to characterize the circuit's response characteristic to different amounts of circadian light from threshold to saturation. By doing so a more complete instantaneous photometric quantity representing the circadian stimulus was defined in terms of both the spectral sensitivity and the response magnitude characteristic of the circadian phototransduction circuit. To validate the model of the circadian phototransduction circuit, it was necessary to augment the model to account for different durations of the circadian stimulus and distribution of the circadian stimulus across the retina. Two simple modifications to the model accounted for the duration and distribution of continuous light exposure during the early biological night. A companion paper (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.615305/full) provides a neurophysiological foundation for the model parameters.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Edited by: Christopher S. Colwell, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
This article was submitted to Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, a section of the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
Reviewed by: Michael Herf, f.lux software LLC, United States; Travis Longcore, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, United States; Anna Matynia, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
ISSN:1662-4548
1662-453X
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2021.615322