Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Higher School of Medicine

Lecture 8. Eye and Vision

Lecturer: Zhadyra Bizhanova, MBChB, MPH, PhD

Department of Fundamental Medicine
MiF2203 "Normal structure and function of human body"

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 Learning Outcomes
• Describe and identify the anatomy of the eye and its accessory
structures in the picture and in the model
• Discuss the structure of the retina and its receptor cells
• Explain how the optical system of the eye creates an image on the
retina
• Discuss how the retina converts this image to nerve signals
• Explain why different types of receptor cells and neural circuits are
required for day and night vision
• Describe the mechanism of color vision and trace the visual
projection pathways in the brain
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 Terms
• Vision/sight – perception of external objects by sensing the lights
they emit
• Light –electromagnetic radiation visible to human eyes
• Wavelengths 400-700 nm
• Ultraviolet (UV) – radiation wave below 400 nm
• Infrared (IR) – radiation wave above 700 nm

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 Accessory structures of the orbit
• Orbit – bony socket for the eyeball

• Eyebrows – aid facial expressions & protect from perspiration

• Eyelids/palpebrae – protect from foreign objects & light, moisten & clean
debris

• Conjunctiva – transparent mucous membrane, richly innervated & vascular

• The inner surface of the eyelid & anterior surface of the eyeball

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 Lacrimal apparatus: lacrimal gland & tear
ducts
• Lacrimal gland – almond-shaped gland
• Located in the fontal bone in the superolateral corner of the orbit

• Cleans & lubricate the eye surface

• Delivers O2 & nutrients to the conjunctiva

• Secretes lysozyme – an enzyme that kills bacteria

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 6 extrinsic eye muscles
• 4 rectus muscles – superior, medial, lateral, & inferior
• Arise from a shared tendinous ring on the posterior wall of the orbit
• Attach to the anterior region of the eyeball
• Lateral innervated by abducens nerve – cranial nerve VI
• Superior, medial & inferior innervated by oculomotor nerve – cranial nerve III
• 2 oblique muscles – superior & inferior
• Superior: travels along the medial wall & attaches to the superolateral surface of
the eyeball
• Innervated by trochlear nerve – cranial nerve IV
• Inferior: arises from the medial wall of the orbit & attaches to the inferolateral
surface of the eyeball
• Innervated by abducens nerve – cranial nerve VI

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 Orbital fat
• Surrounds the eye

• Serves as a cushion to move freely

• Protects vessels & nerves from external injury

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 Anatomy of the eye
• Eyeball – a sphere 24 mm in diameter
1. 3 layers/tunics

2. Optical components - receive & focus light

3. Neural components – retina & optic nerve

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 Tunica fibrosa – the outer layer
1. Sclera – white of the eye
• Covers the eye surface

• Consists of collagenous connective tissue

• Has vessels & nerves

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 Tunica fibrosa – the outer layer
2. Cornea –anterior transparent sclera
• Receives light into the eye
• Consists of collagen fibrils & fibroblasts
• Covered by stratified squamous epithelium (stem cells) anteriorly
• Covered by simple squamous epithelium posteriorly
• Epithelia pump Na+ out of the corneal tissue
• The Na+ pump prevents from overhydrating, swelling & losing transparency

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 Tunica vasculosa – the middle layer
• Uvea – looks like a peeled grape
1. Choroid
• Vascular & pigmented layer,
• Located behind the retina
2. Ciliary body
• A thick extension of the choroid
• Forms a muscular ring
3. Iris – a diaphragm that controls the diameter of the pupil
• 2 pigmented layers:
• Posterior pigment epithelium – blocks stray light reaching the retina
• Anterior border layer – contains chromatophores (pigmented cells)

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 Tunica interna – the inner layer
• Consists of retina & the optic nerve

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 The optical components
• Transparent elements that receive, refract & focus light rays on the
retina
1. Cornea

2. Aqueous humor – a serous fluid secreted by the ciliary body

• Collects in the posterior chamber between the iris & lens

• Flows through the pupil into anterior chamber between the iris & cornea

• Reabsorbed by the scleral venous sinus

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 The optical components
3. Lens – composed of lens fibers
• Flattened, tightly compressed & transparent cells
• 9 mm in diameter
• 3.6 mm thick in the middle
• The suspensory ligament suspends the lens and attaches to the ciliary body

4. Vitreous body – a transparent jelly in the vitreous chamber

• Located behind the lens
• The hyaloid canal – an oblique channel in the middle

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 The neural components
• Retina – a cup-shaped outgrowth of the diencephalon (optic vesicle)
• Attached to the eye at 2 points:
• Optic disc – where the optic nerve leaves the fundus of the eye
• Ora serrata – the anterior margin
• Optic nerve – nerve fibers from retina converge on the optic disc & exit the eye
• Blind spot –the optic disc that contains no receptor cells
• Visual filling – the brain using the image surrounding the blind spot to fill in missing
information
• Saccades – flickering eye movements that ensure the visual field doesn’t project onto the
same retina area

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 Formation of an image
• The light rays enter the eye
• Focus on retina
• Produce an inverted image

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 Pupil diameter is regulated by contractile
elements in the iris:
• The pupillary constrictor –smooth muscles that encircle the pupil
• The pupillary dilator – myoepithelial cells
• Stimulated by the SNS
• Myoepithelial cells contract
• Widen the pupil
• Admit more light to the eye
• Constrictor & dilator respond to:
• Emotions
• Change in light intensity
• Shift in gaze between distant & nearby objects

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 Photopupillary reflex
• The pupillary constriction as the response to change in light intensity
mediated by automated reflex arc
↓ Change in light intensity
↓ Stimulation in the pretectal region of the upper midbrain
↓ Preganglionic parasympathetic fibers travel along the oculomotor nerve
↓ Preganglionic parasympathetic fibers connect to postganglionic fibers in the ciliary
ganglion in the orbit
↓ Postganglionic fibers end in the eye
↓ Pupillary constriction

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 Sympathetic innervation
↓ Originates in the spinal cord
↓ Preganglionic fibers begin from the thoracic cord
↓ Preganglionic fibers end in the superior cervical ganglion
↓ Postganglionic fibers travel with the carotid arteries
↓ Postganglionic fibers innervate the pupillary dilator

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 Refraction
• Bending of light rays
• Refractive index (RI) – a measure of how much it retards light rays
relative to air
• RI of air = 1
• RI of cornea = 1.38
• RI of aqueous humor = 1.33
• RI of lens = 1.40

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 The near response
• Emmetropia – Long-distance vision
• When the eye is relaxed or focused on an object >6 m away
• The near response – adjustment to close-range vision
• Convergence of the eyes
• Orients the visual axis of the eye toward the object
• Diplopia – double vision develops when the extrinsic muscles are weaker in one eye
• Constriction of the pupil –pupil constricts focus on nearby objects, adjusts
to changes in brightness & reduces spherical aberration
• Accommodation of the lens – change in the curvature of the lends
• Allows to focus on nearby objects

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 Sensory transduction in the retina
• Photoreceptor cells (rods, cones, & ganglion cells)
• Rods & cones are not neurons, rather the ependymal cells
• They produce visual images
• Rod cells:
• Rhodopsin – the visual pigment
• Responsible for night (scotopic) vision
• Produce images in shades of gray (monochromatic vision)
• Cone cells:
• Photopsin – the visual pigment
• Function in brighter cells
• Responsible for day vision & color (trichromatic vision)

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 Sensory transduction in the retina
• Bipolar cells
• First-order neurons of the visual pathway
• Ganglion cells
• The largest neurons of the retina
• A single layer of the vitreous body
• Second-order neurons of the visual pathway
• Detect light intensity
• Transmits signals to the brainstem nuclei that control pupillary diameter &
circadian rhythms
• Melanopsin- the sensory pigment

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 Visual pigments
• Rhodopsin (visual purple) is the visual pigment of the rods
• Consists of 2 parts (moieties)
• Opsin – a protein
• Retinene or retinal – a vitamin A derivative
• Photopsin (visual red) is the visual pigment of the cones

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 Generating the optic nerve signal
• Cis-retinal – a bent-shaped retinal, exists at night
• Trans-retinal – a straight-shaped retinal, exists during the day, breaks
away from the opsin

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 Light and dark adaptation
• Light adaptation - an adjustment in vision that occurs when you go
from a dark or dimly lit area into brighter light
• Dark adaptation an adjustment in vision that occurs when you go
from a brighter light area to a darker lit area

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 Thank you for your attention!

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