ArticleCurrent biology : CB2017
Synergistic Signaling by Light and Acetylcholine in Mouse Iris Sphincter Muscle.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Changes in Melanopsin expression in the iris after corneal abrasion in an experimental rat model.Experimental eye research · 2026Article
- Acetylcholine in Brain-Body Communication: Biological Mechanisms and Physiological Roles.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Opposing Roles of OPN3 and OPN5 Affecting the Intrinsic Pupillary Light Reflex of the Mammalian Iris.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Retinal Origins of Circadian Photoregulation's Specialized Dynamic Range and Temporal Integration.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Defining spatial nonuniformities of all ipRGC types using an improved Opn4Cell reports methods · 2024Article
- Direct retino-iridal projections and intrinsic iris contraction mediate the pupillary light reflex in early vertebrates.Communications biology · 2024Article
- A newbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The role of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in atropine-related inhibition of the progression of myopia.BMC ophthalmology · 2024Article
- Immediate responses to ambient lightiScience · 2023Article
- Effects of Adult Age and Functioning of the Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrinergic System on Reward-Based Learning.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Article
- Diversity of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells: circuits and functions.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Review
- Pupillary light reflex of lamprey Petromyzon marinus.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Endogenous Opioid Signaling in the Mouse Retina Modulates Pupillary Light Reflex.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Article
- Elucidation of Cellular Mechanisms That Regulate the Sustained Contraction and Relaxation of the Mammalian Iris.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2020Article
- Cryptochromes Mediate Intrinsic Photomechanical Transduction in Avian Iris and Somatic Striated Muscle.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
- Melanopsin and the Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells: Biophysics to Behavior.Neuron · 2019Review
- Article
- Olfactory, Taste, and Photo Sensory Receptors in Non-sensory Organs: It Just Makes Sense.Frontiers in physiology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The mammalian pupillary light reflex (PLR) involves a bilateral brain circuit whereby afferent light signals in the optic nerve ultimately drive iris-sphincter-muscle contraction via excitatory cholinergic parasympathetic innervation [1, 2]. Additionally, the PLR in nocturnal and crepuscular sub-primate mammals has a "local" component in the isolated sphincter muscle [3-5], as in amphibians, fish, and bird [6-10]. In mouse, this local PLR requires the pigment melanopsin [5], originally found in intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) [11-19]. However, melanopsin's presence and effector pathway locally in the iris remain uncertain. The sphincter muscle itself may express melanopsin [5], or its cholinergic parasympathetic innervation may be modulated by suggested intraocular axonal collaterals of ipRGCs traveling to the eye's ciliary body or even to the iris [20-22]. Here, we show that the muscarinic receptor antagonist, atropine, eliminated the effect of acetylcholine (ACh), but not of light, on isolated mouse sphincter muscle. Conversely, selective genetic deletion of melanopsin in smooth muscle mostly removed the light-induced, but not the ACh-triggered, increase in isolated sphincter muscle's tension and largely suppressed the local PLR in vivo. Thus, sphincter muscle cells are bona fide, albeit unconventional, photoreceptors. We found melanopsin expression in a small subset of mouse iris sphincter muscle cells, with the light-induced contractile signal apparently spreading through gap junctions into neighboring muscle cells. Light and ACh share a common signaling pathway in sphincter muscle. In summary, our experiments have provided details of a photosignaling process in the eye occurring entirely outside the retina.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.