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Factors influencing the pupillary light reflex in healthy individuals

  • Neurophthalmology
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To determine the ocular anatomical factors influencing the pupillary light reactions to different wavelengths of light, measured with chromatic pupillometry.

Methods

Community-based, cross-sectional study including subjects with normal ocular health (ages 50–79 years). Direct pupillary responses to continuously increasing irradiances (6.8 to 13.8 log photons cm−2 s−1) of red (631 nm) and blue (469 nm) light were measured, using a dedicated infrared pupillometer. All subjects underwent swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT, CASIA SS-1000, Tomey Corporation, Nagoya, Japan) and noncontact partial coherence laser interferometry (Lenstar LS900, Haag-Streit AG, Switzerland). Univariate and multivariable regression analyses were performed to determine the anatomical features influencing pupillographic parameters.

Results

Among the 177 included subjects, 167 (94.4 %) were Chinese and 116 (65.5 %) female. The average baseline pupil diameter in darkness (β = −0.080, p < 0.001) and the amplitude of the relative pupillary constriction (β = −0.233, p = 0.006) to blue light decreased with age. The amplitude of pupillary constriction was significantly larger in patients with a thinner iris, in response to stimulation with blue (β = −0.321, p < 0.001) and red light (β = −0.336, p < 0.001). Other ocular parameters (i.e., lens vault, anterior chamber depth width, iris volume, iris curvature, and lens thickness) were not significantly associated with pupillometric outcomes.

Conclusions

The amplitude of the pupillary light constriction to chromatic photic stimuli is reduced with increasing age and iris thickness in subjects with normal ocular health, a finding which needs to be integrated into future pupillometric studies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore Eye Research Institute, 11, Third Hospital Avenue #5-00, SNEC Building, Singapore, 168751, Singapore

    Sourabh Sharma, Mani Baskaran, Monisha E. Nongpiur, HlaMyint Htoon, Ching-Yu Cheng, Shamira A. Perera, Tin Aung & Dan Milea

  2. Singapore National Eye Center, Singapore, Singapore

    Sourabh Sharma, Mani Baskaran, Monisha E. Nongpiur, Ching-Yu Cheng, Shamira A. Perera, Tin Aung & Dan Milea

  3. Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Annadata V. Rukmini, Joshua J. Gooley & Dan Milea

  4. Eye ACP, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    HlaMyint Htoon & Ching-Yu Cheng

  5. Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore, Singapore

    Ching-Yu Cheng & Tin Aung

  6. Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore, Singapore

    Joshua J. Gooley

Authors
  1. Sourabh Sharma
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  2. Mani Baskaran
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  3. Annadata V. Rukmini
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  4. Monisha E. Nongpiur
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  5. HlaMyint Htoon
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  6. Ching-Yu Cheng
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  7. Shamira A. Perera
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  8. Joshua J. Gooley
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  9. Tin Aung
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  10. Dan Milea
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dan Milea.

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Financial support

This work was supported by the Duke-NUS Signature Research Program funded by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, and the Ministry of Health, Singapore; National Medical Research Council, Singapore under NMRC/CIRG/1401/2014(DM); National Medical Research Council, Singapore under NMRC/NIG/1000/2009 (JJG); Singapore National Eye Centre Health Research Endowment Fund (1005/20/2013, AT, JJG, DM); Biomedical Research Council under 01-TCRP-2010 (TCR0101674, AT). The sponsor had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

Conflict of interest

Dan Milea and Joshua J Gooley have a patent Application PCT/SG2015/050494: A method and system for monitoring and/or assessing pupillary responses

The rest of authors certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge, or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Sharma, S., Baskaran, M., Rukmini, A.V. et al. Factors influencing the pupillary light reflex in healthy individuals. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 254, 1353–1359 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-016-3311-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-016-3311-4

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