Neuroscience: A Chromatic Retinal Circuit Encodes Sunrise and Sunset for the Brain

Alyssa M Rivera; Andrew D Huberman

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.090

Neuroscience: A Chromatic Retinal Circuit Encodes Sunrise and Sunset for the Brain

Curr Biol. 2020 Apr 6;30(7):R316-R318. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.090.

Authors

Alyssa M Rivera¹, Andrew D Huberman²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurobiology, and Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Molecular and Cellular Biology, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR 97331, USA.
² Department of Neurobiology, and Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: adh1@stanford.edu.

Abstract

A new study reveals the retinal circuit for encoding the types of light prominent at sunrise and sunset. The output of that circuit is conveyed to the brain's master circadian clock. Subconscious processing of sky color changes may therefore be the key stimulus for conveying morning and evening information to the circadian timing system in the brain.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain
Circadian Rhythm
Color Vision*
Primates
Retina

Grants and funding

P30 EY026877/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States