ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2020
Challenging a Myth and Misconception: Red-Light Vision in Rats.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integration of learned artificial sensation with vision during freely moving navigation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Context features influence alcohol reward and motivation.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Objective quantification of gait impairment in rats using automated video analysis.Biophysics and physicobiology · 2026Article
- Differential effects of amphetamine on ultrasonic vocalizations and locomotor activity in a rat model of endogenous depression.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Animal Models of Exercise and Cardiometabolic Disease.Circulation research · 2025Review
- A Pocket Guide for the Experimenter Studying Daily Rhythms in Memory-Related Behavior.Current protocols · 2025Article
- Red Light Sensitivity of Non-image and Image Forming Visual Systems of Laboratory Rodents: Circadian Disruption and Behavioral Detection.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Far-red LED light alters circadian rhythms and elicits dark-adapted ERG responses in rodents.PloS one · 2025Article
- Alterations in visible light exposure modulate platelet function and regulate thrombus formation.Journal of thrombosis and haemostasis : JTH · 2025Article
- Overcoming off-target optical stimulation-evoked cortical activity in the mouse brainiScience · 2024Article
- The Future Is Not Bright: Evaluation of Rat Preferences for Color and Intensity of Light.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Reproducible and fully automated testing of nocifensive behavior in mice.Cell reports methods · 2023Article
- Immediate responses to ambient lightiScience · 2023Article
- Preference of Escaped Mice for Live Capture or Glue Traps and Relevance to Pest Control Programs.Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2023Article
- Differential encoding of temporally evolving color patterns across nearby V1 neurons.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Hypothalamic A11 Nuclei Regulate the Circadian Rhythm of Spinal Mechanonociception through Dopamine Receptors and Clock Gene Expression.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Physiologic and Behavioral Effects in Mice Anesthetized with Isoflurane in a Red-tinted or a Traditional Translucent Chamber.Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2022Article
- Consensus Recommendation for Mouse Models of Ocular Hypertension to Study Aqueous Humor Outflow and Its Mechanisms.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2022Review
- Article
- Wavelength dependence of acute, light-evoked recruitment of brainstem pain-modulating systems in female rats.Neurobiology of pain (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Due to the lack of L-cones in the rodent retina, it is generally assumed that red light is invisible to rodents. Thus, red lights and red filter foils are widely used in rodent husbandry and experimentation allowing researchers to observe animals in an environment that is thought to appear dark to the animals. To better understand red-light vision in rodents, we assessed retinal sensitivity of pigmented and albino rats to far-red light by electroretinogram. We examined the sensitivity to red light not only on the light- but also dark-adapted retina, as red observation lights in husbandry are used during the dark phase of the light cycle. Intriguingly, both rods and cones of pigmented as well as albino rats show a retinal response to red light, with a high sensitivity of the dark-adapted retina and large electroretinogram responses in the mesopic range. Our results challenge the misconception of rodents being red-light blind. Researchers and housing facilities should rethink the use of red observation lights at night.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.