Characteristics of the pupillary light reflex in the alert rhesus monkey.

This study investigated the static and dynamic characteristics of the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in the alert rhesus monkey. Temporal characteristics of the PLR were investigated with Maxwellian viewing during sinusoidal changes in illumination of a 36 degrees stimulus in both monkeys and humans. Bode plots of the PLR response were fitted by a linear model composed of a delay combined with a cascaded first- and second-order filter. The Bode magnitude plots conformed to this model with a sharp roll-off above 1.3 Hz for the human PLR and 1.9 Hz for the monkey PLR. Bode phase angle plots were fitted by this model with a delay of 280 ms for humans and 160 ms for monkeys. To investigate the influence of the sympathetic innervation of the iris on steady-state pupil diameter, dynamics of pupillary responses, and the latency of the PLR, we blocked this innervation pharmacologically with a selective alpha-1 adrenoreceptor antagonist. Although there was a resultant miosis (decrease in pupil diameter) from the relaxation of the pupil dilator muscle, no other measures of the PLR, including the dynamics and latency, were significantly affected by this treatment. We examined the pupillary responses evoked by visual stimuli presented either binocularly or monocularly at various locations on a 80 x 60 degrees tangent screen. These pupillomotor fields revealed that, as has been reported for humans, stimuli at the fovea and surrounding macular region of monkeys produce substantially larger pupillary responses than more peripheral stimuli and that binocular responses are substantially greater than can be accounted for by the linear summation of binocular retinal illuminance. In conclusion, we found that the spatial characteristics of the PLR of the rhesus monkey are very similar, in all important aspects, to those reported for humans and that the temporal responses of the PLR are comparable between the two species. The rhesus monkey thus provides an excellent model for experimental studies of the neural control of the pupil.

[1]  L. Mays,et al.  Lidocaine-induced unilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia: effects on convergence and conjugate eye movements. , 1989, Journal of neurophysiology.

[3]  A. Cowey,et al.  The effect of lesions to cortical areas V4 or AIT on pupillary responses to chromatic and achromatic stimuli in monkeys , 1998, Experimental Brain Research.

[4]  Dezsö Varjú.  Nervöse Wechselwirkung in der pupillomotorischen Bahn des Menschen , 2004, Kybernetik.

[5]  R. Kardon,et al.  Automated pupil perimetry. Pupil field mapping in patients and normal subjects. , 1991, Ophthalmology.

[6]  P. M. Sherman,et al.  A servoanalytic study of consensual pupil reflex to light. , 1957, Journal of neurophysiology.

[7]  M. Carpenter,et al.  Pretectal region and the pupillary light reflex. An anatomical analysis in the monkey , 1973, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[8]  L. Levin.  Current Opinion in Ophthalmology , 1992 .

[9]  J L Barbur,et al.  Pupillary responses to stimulus structure, colour and movement , 1992, Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians.

[10]  H. J. Wyatt,et al.  Pupillary light reflex in humans: Evidence for an unbalanced pathway from nasal retina, and for signal cancellation in brainstem , 1981, Vision Research.

[11]  B. Richmond,et al.  Implantation of magnetic search coils for measurement of eye position: An improved method , 1980, Vision Research.

[12]  Randy H. Kardon,et al.  Pupil perimetry Editorial review , 1992 .

[13]  S. Howard Bartley,et al.  Subjective brightness in relation to flash rate and the light-dark ratio. , 1938 .

[14]  H D Crane,et al.  Three-dimensional visual stimulus deflector. , 1978, Applied optics.

[15]  M Alpern,et al.  Effect of photoexcitation of the two retinas on pupil size. , 1967, Journal of neurophysiology.

[16]  G. Bassoli.  [Experimental data on changes of an anabolic and genito-sexual type induced in impuberal rats by prolonged isoniazid treatment]. , 1958, Giornale italiano della tubercolosi.

[17]  A. Lieberman,et al.  The olivary pretectal nucleus: experimental anatomical studies in the rat. , 1985, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[18]  Richard F. Brubaker,et al.  Adler's Physiology of the Eye , 1976 .

[19]  L E Mays,et al.  Behavior of identified Edinger-Westphal neurons during ocular accommodation. , 1994, Journal of neurophysiology.

[20]  THE PUPIL AS INDICATOR OF RETINAL ACTIVITY. , 1964, American journal of ophthalmology.

[21]  D A Newsome,et al.  Iris mechanics. I. Influence of pupil size on dynamics of pupillary movements. , 1971, American journal of ophthalmology.

[22]  R M Boynton,et al.  Latency variation in human pupil contraction due to stimulus luminance and/or adaptation level. , 1969, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[23]  C. Cavonius,et al.  Binocular Interactions in Flicker , 1979, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[24]  S. Wu,et al.  Adler's Physiology of the Eye , 2002 .

[25]  P B Kruger,et al.  Infrared recording retinoscope for monitoring accomodation. , 1979, American journal of optometry and physiological optics.

[26]  B. Silvestrini,et al.  Binding profile of trazodone and dapiprazole to some brain receptors. , 1988, Drugs under experimental and clinical research.

[27]  I. E. Loewenfeld,et al.  The Pupil: Anatomy, Physiology, and Clinical Applications , 1999 .

[28]  Dezsö Varjú,et al.  Der Einflu\ sinusförmiger Leuchtdichteänderungen auf die mittlere Pupillenweite und auf die subjektive Helligkeit , 1964, Kybernetik.

[29]  M. Bartholomew,et al.  Correlation of afferent pupillary defect with visual field loss on automated perimetry. , 1988, Ophthalmology.

[30]  D. Snodderly,et al.  Intensity coding in primate visual system , 1978, Experimental Brain Research.

[31]  J. Klooster,et al.  The ultrastructure of the olivary pretectal nucleus in rats. A tracing and GABA immunohistochemical study , 1997, Experimental Brain Research.

[32]  A Troelstra,et al.  Detection of time-varying light signals as measured by the pupillary response. , 1968, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[33]  A. Fuchs,et al.  A method for measuring horizontal and vertical eye movement chronically in the monkey. , 1966, Journal of applied physiology.

[34]  M. Eltze.  Affinity of the Miotic Drug, Dapiprazole, at α1‐Adrenoceptor Subtypes A, B and D , 1997 .

[35]  J J Corbett,et al.  The relationship between visual acuity, pupillary defect, and visual field loss. , 1982, American journal of ophthalmology.

[36]  I. E. Loewenfeld.  Mechanisms of reflex dilatation of the pupil , 2004, Documenta Ophthalmologica.

[37]  M Pong,et al.  Characteristics of the pupillary light reflex in the macaque monkey: metrics. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[38]  [The influence of sinusoidal luminous density changes on the mean pupil width and on subjective brightness]. , 1964, Kybernetik.

[39]  Stephen A. Burns,et al.  Flicker brightness enhancement and visual nonlinearity , 1996, Vision Research.