To run our circadian clocks, regulate sleep and control hormone levels, we rely on light-sensing neurons known as M1 ganglion cell photoreceptors. Separate from the retina’s rods and cones, M1 cells specialize in “non-image” vision and function even in people who are blind.
Reporting in today’s Cell, neuroscientists at Boston Children’s Hospital describe an unexpected system that M1 cells use to sense changing amounts of environmental illumination. They found that the cells divvy up the job, with particular neurons tuned to different ranges of light intensity.
“As the earth turns, the level of illumination ranges across many orders of magnitude, from starlight to full daylight,” says Michael Do, PhD, of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, senior author on the paper. “How do you build a sensory system that covers such a broad range? It seems like a straightforward problem, but the solution we found was a lot more complex than expected.” …