The Impact of Glaucoma on Light-Mediated Mood and Sleep Disorders

Researchers aim to understand how the survival and function of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), a small population of the RGCs, control light’s effects on mood and sleep in animal models.

A small population of retinal ganglion cells, the ipRGCs, communicates light information from the eyes to the brain for purposes other than vision such as the regulation of sleep and mood. Because glaucoma patients often suffer from light-mediated sleep and mood disorders, we aim to understand how ipRGCs control light’s effects on mood and sleep.

Our study represents a first attempt to explore the changes due to glaucoma in the ipRGC-based neural circuitry responsible for non-visual responses to light. This research will contribute to our understanding of the neural pathways underlying mood and behavioral changes experienced by glaucoma patients. Such insights are crucial for enhancing patient care and developing better treatments as glaucoma advances and evolves.

Understanding the signaling mechanisms and pathways through which light exerts its effects on non-visual responses will inform the development of therapies aimed at compensating for the loss of ipRGCs caused by glaucoma. Our proposed study lays the groundwork to investigate whether melanopsin-based activity can alleviate the repercussions of glaucoma on mood or sleep. Consequently, the clinical community will be able to devise therapeutic strategies to modulate melanopsin signaling through defined light exposure paradigms or pharmacological regulation of melanopsin-initiated signaling.