All Light, Everywhere? Photoreceptors at Nonconventional Sites.
Physiology (Bethesda)
; 39(1): 0, 2024 Jan 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37905983
ABSTRACT
One of the biggest environmental alterations we have made to our species is the change in the exposure to light. During the day, we typically sit behind glass windows illuminated by artificial light that is >400 times dimmer and has a very different spectrum than natural daylight. On the opposite end are the nights that are now lit up by several orders of magnitude. This review aims to provide food for thought as to why this matters for humans and other animals. Evidence from behavioral neuroscience, physiology, chronobiology, and molecular biology is increasingly converging on the conclusions that the biological nonvisual functions of light and photosensory molecules are highly complex. The initial work of von Frisch on extraocular photoreceptors in fish, the identification of rhodopsins as the molecular light receptors in animal eyes and eye-like structures and cryptochromes as light sensors in nonmammalian chronobiology, still allowed for the impression that light reception would be a relatively restricted, localized sense in most animals. However, light-sensitive processes and/or sensory proteins have now been localized to many different cell types and tissues. It might be necessary to consider nonlight-responding cells as the exception, rather than the rule.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Células Fotorreceptoras de Invertebrados
/
Criptocromos
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Physiology (Bethesda)
Asunto de la revista:
FISIOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Austria
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos