MINI REVIEW article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Visual Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1635101
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and visual processing: ipRGCs are more than just non-image-forming functions
Provisionally accepted
- New York University, New York City, United States
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Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are relatively newly discovered photoreceptors other than rods and cones. For the last decade, people have been considered ipRGCs to be primarily in charge of non-image-forming and cognitive functions. However, an increasing body of evidence has pointed out that ipRGCs also play a role in visual processing, such as contrast, brightness and color perception. In this mini-review, I listed what the caveats about those studies discussing how ipRGCs affect cognitive functions and how ipRGCs serve as image-forming functions under well-controlled condition.
Keywords: Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), Blue light, Visual Processing, non-image-forming functions, Melanopsin
Received: 26 May 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hsing-Hao Lee, New York University, New York City, United States
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