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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 30: Posters: Physics of Cells

BP 30.30: Poster

Donnerstag, 17. März 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3

Direct quantitative evidence for the presence of optical elements in the vertebrate retina — •Moritz Kreysing, Zuzanna Blaszczak, Lars Boyde, Kevin Chalut, Kristian Franze, and Jochen Guck — Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

The vertebrate retina is an optics puzzle: light, before reaching the photoreceptor cells, needs to propagate through hundreds of microns of living neuronal tissue. Whereas the retina is commonly said to be transparent, little is actually known about its optical transmission characteristics. In recent years we have been reporting on both the optical properties of retinal glia cells as well as photoreceptor nuclei which seemingly have developed specific optical properties that facilitate efficient light transmission in addition to their usual biological function. With the current study we present the direct and quantitative observation of light modulation due to the presence of these optical elements inside the inner retina. A discussion of the implications of our finding for the understanding of the visual process concludes the talk.