There have been a number of studies showing that blue (temperature) light stimulates dopamine phasis (post-synaptic responses) in rodents and drosophila. Does anyone know about how this works? Surely light is processed by the eye, and the DA reaction is secondary?
The question is an important one because psychopharmacology can reduce DA synthesis and block receptors, and while this is useful for reducing presynaptic (tonic) overregulation and associated positive symptoms, but it does the opposite for post-synaptic (phasis) - and this is predicted to make negative signs only worse (Golembiewski 2013). What's curious is that in my research I've found anecdotes that suggest that schizophrenia patients have a preference for blue light (this has to be confirmed using controlled studies). The idea of using light therapy is appealing, not only because it promises to address a failure of pharmacological agents, but also because it's use will be non-invasive and cheap. But again, how does it all work? Any ideas?
Golembiewski, Jan. (2013). The subcortical confinement hypothesis for schizotypal hallucinations. Curēus, 5 (5), e118. doi: 10.7759/cureus.118
Dear Jan, as you have not provided the references for the papers I might be on a wrong trail here.
Is it possible that the papers you read concerned dopamine release resulting from optogenetic control (the light activates light-sensitive rhodopsins) in e.g. TH::CRE expressing transgenic animals?
Yes indeed - one of the papers did concern optogenetic control.
Adamantidis, A. R., Tsai, H. C., Boutrel, B., Zhang, F., Stuber, G. D., Budygin, E. A., . . . de Lecea, L. (2011). Optogenetic interrogation of dopaminergic modulation of the multiple phases of reward-seeking behavior. J Neurosci, 31(30), 10829-10835. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2246-11.2011
Optogenetics is a technique used in neuroscience that uses light to control neurons
that have been genetically sensitized to light. So in this case, at least for the Adamantidis-paper you mention, it has nothing to do with light-therapy.
Got it. The neurons have to be specially modified first - and therefore cannot be used as therapy...
Jan, you may find this study interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24955825
Perhaps dopaminergic system could play a role in brain activity changes depending on the characteristics of light stimulation (color/wavelength) ?
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