Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception
Abstract Retinal adaptation is assisted by the pupil, with pupil contraction and dilation thought to prevent global light changes from triggering neuronal activity in the retina. However, we find that pupillary constriction from increased light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), can drive strong res...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62736-4 |
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| author | Tjasa Lapanja Pietro Micheli Andrés González-Guerra Oleksandr Radomskyi Gioia De Franceschi Anna Muraveva Alexander Attinger Chiara Nina Roth Matteo Tripodi Tom Boissonnet Marina Sabbadini Josephine Jüttner Petri Ala-Laurila Georg Keller Gabriel Peinado Allina Hiroki Asari Santiago B. Rompani |
| author_facet | Tjasa Lapanja Pietro Micheli Andrés González-Guerra Oleksandr Radomskyi Gioia De Franceschi Anna Muraveva Alexander Attinger Chiara Nina Roth Matteo Tripodi Tom Boissonnet Marina Sabbadini Josephine Jüttner Petri Ala-Laurila Georg Keller Gabriel Peinado Allina Hiroki Asari Santiago B. Rompani |
| author_sort | Tjasa Lapanja |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Retinal adaptation is assisted by the pupil, with pupil contraction and dilation thought to prevent global light changes from triggering neuronal activity in the retina. However, we find that pupillary constriction from increased light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), can drive strong responses in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo in mice. The PLR drives neural activity in all RGC types, and pupil-driven activity is relayed to the visual cortex. Furthermore, the consensual PLR allows one eye to respond to luminance changes presented to the other eye, leading to a binocular response and modulation during low-amplitude luminance changes. To test if pupil-induced activity is consciously perceived, we performed psychophysics on human volunteers, finding a perceptual dimming consistent with PLR-induced responses in mice. Our findings thus uncover that pupillary dynamics can directly induce visual activity that is consciously detectable, suggesting an active role for the pupil in encoding perceived ambient luminance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7262e19eec8f416086a0fe2b9f33e3f5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-7262e19eec8f416086a0fe2b9f33e3f52025-08-20T03:46:23ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-08-0116111910.1038/s41467-025-62736-4Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perceptionTjasa Lapanja0Pietro Micheli1Andrés González-Guerra2Oleksandr Radomskyi3Gioia De Franceschi4Anna Muraveva5Alexander Attinger6Chiara Nina Roth7Matteo Tripodi8Tom Boissonnet9Marina Sabbadini10Josephine Jüttner11Petri Ala-Laurila12Georg Keller13Gabriel Peinado Allina14Hiroki Asari15Santiago B. Rompani16Epigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical ResearchFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical ResearchEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryInstitute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology BaselDepartment of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto UniversityFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical ResearchDepartment of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto UniversityEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryEpigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology LaboratoryAbstract Retinal adaptation is assisted by the pupil, with pupil contraction and dilation thought to prevent global light changes from triggering neuronal activity in the retina. However, we find that pupillary constriction from increased light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), can drive strong responses in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo in mice. The PLR drives neural activity in all RGC types, and pupil-driven activity is relayed to the visual cortex. Furthermore, the consensual PLR allows one eye to respond to luminance changes presented to the other eye, leading to a binocular response and modulation during low-amplitude luminance changes. To test if pupil-induced activity is consciously perceived, we performed psychophysics on human volunteers, finding a perceptual dimming consistent with PLR-induced responses in mice. Our findings thus uncover that pupillary dynamics can directly induce visual activity that is consciously detectable, suggesting an active role for the pupil in encoding perceived ambient luminance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62736-4 |
| spellingShingle | Tjasa Lapanja Pietro Micheli Andrés González-Guerra Oleksandr Radomskyi Gioia De Franceschi Anna Muraveva Alexander Attinger Chiara Nina Roth Matteo Tripodi Tom Boissonnet Marina Sabbadini Josephine Jüttner Petri Ala-Laurila Georg Keller Gabriel Peinado Allina Hiroki Asari Santiago B. Rompani Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception Nature Communications |
| title | Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| title_full | Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| title_fullStr | Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| title_short | Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| title_sort | pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62736-4 |
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