Visual system Flashcards
What are the different parts of the eye?
- upper and lower eyelid
- lateral and medial canthus
- palpebral fissure
- pupil
- iris
- sclera
- caruncle
- limbus (border between cornea and sclera)
What is the role of tear film?
- maintains smooth cornea-air surface
- oxygen supply to cornea (cornea is avascular)
- removal of debris (with blinking)
What is the structure of the tear film?
- lipid layer
- water layer
- mucin layer
Describe the superficial lipid layer of the tear film?
- reduce tear film evaporation
- produced by a row of Meibomian Glands along the lid margins
Describe the mucus layer corneal surface of the tear film?
- maintains surface wetting
- has microvillus and epithelial cells
- mucin molecules act by binding water molecules,
to the hydrophobic corneal epithelial cell surface.
What is the role of the aqueous tear film layer?
- delivers oxygen and nutrient to the surrounding tissue
- contains bactericide
Which layer in the tear film protects the tear film from rapid evaporation?
lipid layer
What is the conjunctiva?
thin, transparent tissue that covers the outer surface of the eye
Where is the conjuctiva?
It begins at the outer edge of the cornea, covers the visible part of the eye, and lines the inside of the eyelids
What is the blood supply of the conjunctiva?
by tiny blood vessels
What is the sclera?
- tough, opaque tissue that acts as the protective outer coat
- high water content
What are the 5 layers of the cornea?
- epithelium
- Bowman’s membrane
- Stroma
- Descemet’s membrane
- Endothelium
What is the role of stroma in the eye?
regularity contributes towards transparency
What is the role of the endothelium in the eye?
pumps fluid out of the cornea and prevents corneal oedema
What is the cornea?
- transparent, dome shaped window covering the front of the eye
- low water content
What is the role of the cornea?
- refracting surface
- provides 2/3 of the eye’s focusing power
What are the 3 layers of the coat of the eye?
- sclera
- choroid
- retina
What is the role of the sclera?
- protects the eye
- maintains the shape of the eye
What is the choroid?
the middle, pigmented vascular layer of the coat
What is the role of the choroid?
- provides circulation to the eye
- shields out the unwanted scattered light
What is the retina?
the innermost neurosensory layer
What is the role of the retina?
responsible for converting light into neurological impulses, transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve
What is the uvea?
vascular coat of eyeball
Where is the uvea?
between the sclera and retina
What are the 3 parts that make up the uvea?
- iris
- ciliary body
- choroid
What is the role of the iris?
controls light levels inside the eye
What is the iris?
- coloured part of the eye
- embedded with tiny muscles that dilate and constrict the pupil size
What is the role of the human lens?
responsible for 1/3 of the refractive power of the eye
What is the structure of the lens?
- outer acellular capsule
- regular inner elongated cell fibres
What can happen to lens with age?
- opacification
- cataract
What is the retina?
thin layer of tissue that lines the inner part of the eye
What is the role of the retina?
responsible for capturing the light that enters the eye, sent to brain, via the optic nerve
What is the role of the optic nerve?
transmits electrical impulses from the retina to the brain
Where is the optic nerve?
- connects to the back of the eye near the macula
- the visible portion of the optic nerve, is the optic disc
Where is the blind spot?
on the optic disc
What is the macula?
a small and highly sensitive part of the retina
What is the role of the macula?
- responsible for detailed central vision
- central vision (like reading)
Where is the macula?
in the centre of the retina, temporal to the optic nerve
What is the fovea?
the centre of the macula
What is the structure of the fovea?
- highest concentration of cones
- low concentration of rods
What is central vision?
- responsible for central fine vision and daytime colour vision
- also known as macular vision
How does loss of central vision present?
problems with:
- reading
- recognising facfes
What is used to assess central vision?
visual acuity assessment
What is the role of peripheral vision?
detecting:
- shape
- movement in the environment
- night vision
How does loss of peripheral vision present?
problems navigating the world
What is used to assess peripheral vision?
visual field assessment
What are the 3 layers of the retina?
Retinal pigment epithelium Neuroretina: - outer layer of photo-receptor - middle layer of intermediate neurons - inner layer of ganglion nerve cells
What is the role of the outer layer of the neuroretina?
- photoreceptors (1st order neuron)
- detection of light
What is the role of the middle layer of the neuroretina?
- bipolar cells (2nd order neuron)
- local signal processing to improve contrast sensitivity, and regulate sensitivity
What is the role of the inner layer of the neuroretina?
- retinal ganglion cells (3rd order neurons)
- transmission of the signal from the eye to the vbrain
What is the outermost layer of the retina?
retinal pigment epithelium
What is the role of the retinal pigment epithelium?
- nutrient transport from the choroid to the photo receptor cells
- removes metabolic waste from the retina
What are the 2 main types of photoreceptors?
- rods
- cones
What is the structure of rods?
- Longer outer segment with photo-sensitive pigment
- 100 times more sensitive to light than cones
- Slow response to light
- 120 million rods
What are rods responsible from?
Responsible for night vision (Scotopic Vision)
What are cones responsible for?
- Less sensitive to light, but faster response
- Responsible for day light fine vision and colour vision (Photopic Vision)
- 6 million cones
Where are photopigments synthesized?
inner photo-receptor segment, and then transported to the outer segment
What is the structure of the outer segment of photoreceptors?
- stacks of discs
- distal discs with deactivated photo-pigments (shedded from the tips)
- phago-cytosed by the retinal epithelial cells
- deactivated photopigments are regenerated inside the retinal epithelial cells,
and then transported back to the photo-receptors.
Where are rods found?
- widely distributed all over the retina
- highest density outside the macula
- density decreases towards the periphery
Where are cones found?
distributed only in the macula
Where can one find the highest concentration of Rod photoreceptors in the retina?
20-40 degrees away from the fovea
What are the three sub-types of cones?
- S-Cones (short wavelength) - colour blue,
- M-Cones (medium wavelength) - colour green,
- L-Cones (long wavelength) - colour red.
What does yellow light stimulate?
- M-cones and L-cones equally
What is the most common form of colour vision deficiency?
Deuteranomaly
What causes Deuteranomaly?
the shifting of the M-cone sensitivity peak towards that of the L-cone curve,
causing red-green confusion
What is the term given to full colour blindness?
Achromatopsia
What is Anomalous trichromatism?
colour vision deficits can be caused by a shift in the photo-pigment peak sensitivity
What is Dichromatism?
when only 2 cone photo-pigment sub-types are present
What is Monochromatism?
complete absence of colour vision
What is Blue cone monochromatism?
the presence of only blue L-cones
What do patients with Blue Cone Monochromatism experience?
normal day light visual acuity
What is Rod Monochromatism?
a total absence of all cone photo-receptors
What do patients with Rod Monochromatism experience?
no functional day vision
Where is the lacrimal gland?
- in the orbit
- latero-superior to the globe
What does the lacrimal gland do?
It produces tear at a constant level,
even in the absence of irritation or stimulation.
What is a Basal tear?
It produces tear at a constant level,
even in the absence of irritation or stimulation.
What is a Reflex tear?
the increased tear production,
in response to ocular irritation.
What is the tear reflex pathway composed of?
- the afferent pathway
- the central nervous system
- the efferent pathway
- the lacrimal gland.
What innervates the cornea?
by the sensory nerve fibres via the Ophthalmic Branch of the Trigeminal Nerve
What is the afferent pathway involved in the tear reflex?
the trigeminal nerve relays signal to the CNS
What is the efferent pathway involved in the tear reflex?
the parasympathetic nerve
What innervates the lacrimal gland?
The lacrimal nerve, from the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve
How does the tear film drain to eye from the lacrimal gland?
- drains through the 2 puncta, openings on the upper and lower medial lid margins
- flow through superior and inferior canalculi
- both canalculi converge as a common canaliculus, drain tear into the tear sac
- exits sac thrrough tear duct into nasal cavity
What happens if you hydrate the cornea?
it whitens
How do you test for colour blindness?
Ishihara test
What are the 2 types of lenses?
- converging (convex)
- diverging (concave)