PHYSIOLOGY

OF
VISION AND OPTICS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Decribe Functional anatomy of eye ball

Describe accomadation and error of refraction
Formation and circulation of AQUEOUS HUMOR
Organization of retina
VISUAL PATHWAYS
Describe visual acuity

Vision

Accessory structures of the eye

Eyelids (palpebrae) separated by the palpebral fissue
Eyelashes
Tarsal glands
Lacrimal apparatus
Eternal Features and Accessory Structures of
the Eye
external structures of the eye
Conjunctiva covers most of eye
Cornea is transparent anterior portion
Lacrimal apparatus
Secretions from the lacrimal gland contain
lysozyme
Tears form in the lacrimal glands, wash across
the eye and collect in the lacrimal lake
Pass through the lacrimal punctae, lacrimal canaliculi, lacrimal sac and
nasolacrimal duct
The eye
Three layers
Outer fibrous tunic
Sclera, cornea, limbus

Middle vascular tunic

Iris, ciliary body, choroid
Inner nervous tunic
Retina
The Sectional Anatomy of the Eye
internal structures of the eye

o Ciliary body
Ciliary muscles and ciliary processes, which attach to
suspensory ligaments of lens
o Retina
Outer pigmented portion
Inner neural part

Rods and cones

he Sectional Anatomy of the Eye

The Pupillary Muscles

retina
Retina contains rods and cones
Cones densely packed at fovea (center of the macula lutea)
Retinal pathway

Photoreceptors to bipolar cells to ganglion cells, to the brain via the

optic nerve

Axons of ganglion cells converge at blind spot (optic disc)

 Horizontal cells and amacrine cells modify the signal passed along
the retinal neurons
The Organization of the Retina

Eye anatomy
Ciliary body and lens divide the anterior cavity of the eye into posterior
(vitreous) cavity and anterior cavity
Anterior cavity further divided

anterior chamber in front of eye

posterior chamber between the iris and the lens
The Circulation of Aqueous Humor
Fluids in the eye
Aqueous humor circulates within the eye

diffuses through the walls of anterior chamber

passes through canal of Schlemm
re-enters circulation
Vitreous humor fills the posterior cavity.

Not recycled permanent fluid

Lens

Posterior to the cornea and forms anterior boundary of posterior cavity

Posterior cavity contains vitreous humor

Lens helps focus

Light is refracted as it passes through lens

Accommodation is the process by which the lens adjusts to focus
images

Normal visual acuity is 20/20

Image Formation

Accommodation

Visual

Abnormalities

Visual physiology

o Rods respond to almost any photon

o Cones specific ranges of specificity
Rods and Cones
Photoreceptor structure
o Outer segment with membranous discs
o Narrow stalk connecting outer segment to inner segment
o Light absorption occurs in the visual pigments

Derivatives of rhodopsin
Photoreception
hotoreception

Bleaching and Regeneration of Visual Pigments

Color sensitivity
Integration of information from red, blue and green
cones
Colorblindness is the inability to detect certain colors
retinal adaptation
Dark adapted most visual pigments are fully receptive to stimulation
Light adapted pupil constricts and pigments bleached.
the visual pathway

Large M-cells monitor rods

Smaller more numerous P cells monitor cones
Convergence and Ganglion Cell Function
Seeing in stereo

Vision from the field of view transfers from one side to

the other while in transit
Depth perception is obtained by comparing relative
positions of objects from the two eyes
The Visual Pathways
Visual circadian rhythm

Input to suprachiasmic nucleus affects the function of the

brainstem
Circadian rhythm ties to day-night cycle, and affects
metabolic rates
Visual acuity (VA)

Acuteness or
clearness of vision.
dependent on
the sharpness of the retinal focus within the eye.
the sensitivity of the interpretative faculty of the brain.

Typical Snellen chart used for visual acuity testing.

VISUAL ACUITY

To test visual acuity a black symbols on a white background are used

(for maximum contrast)

A sufficient distance allowed to approximate infinity in the way the lens

attempts to focus.
Twenty feet is essentially infinity from an optical perspective
the difference in optical power required to focus at 20 feet versus infinity
is only 0.164 diopters.

an eye exam lenses of varying powers are used to precisely correct for
refractive errors.

using a pinhole will largely correct for refractive errors and allow
VA to be tested in other circumstances.
Letters are normally used (as in the classic Snellen chart) as most
people will recognise them but other symbols (such as a letter
E,facing in different directions) can be used instead.
VISUAL ACUITY
In the term "20/20 vision"
the numerator refers to the distance in feet between the subject and the
chart.
The denominator is the distance at which the lines that make up those
letters would be separated by a visual angle of 1 arc minute.
which for the lowest line that is read by an eye with no refractive error
(or the errors corrected) is usually 20 feet.
The metric equivalent is 6/6 vision where the distance is 6 meters.
This means that at 20 feet or 6 meters.
A typical human eye, able to separate 1 arc minute, can resolve lines
with a spacing of about 1.75mm