Friday 11 May 2018

Autism may be predicted by Pupillary Light Reflex in Children

Pupillary Light Reflex is a reflex that controls the pupil diameter in response to the light intensity that falls on the retinal ganglion cells of the retina in the back of the eye assisting in adaptation to various levels of lightness/ darkness. It requires CN II, CN III, and central brain stem connections. The pupillary light reflex functions to allow the size of the pupil to respond to light conditions by contracting and dilating and also allows both pupils to react together or consensually.

Recent Studies suggested that pupillary light reflex in infants might be a early sign of autism.
Researchers had found that autism now affects about 1 in 59 children in the United States represnting a significant increase from 6 years ago and have been looking for new ways to spot autism since it can be quite difficult to diagnose in the first years of a child life. The onset of the pupillary light reflex occurs around 30 to 34 weeks' gestation & is not fully developed until the 1 st month after birth. Ii is known that autism is sometimes accompanied by either over- or under-sensitiveness to certain stimuli, be they smells, lights or sounds. For example, a recently developed blood test detected the condition of autism with upto 92 percent accuracy, while other researchers have turned to the sensory symptoms of the condition to aid diagnosis. Research is being done to examine if the pupillary light reflex of infants controls the light intensity getting to their retinas could be a valid marker of autism,
To know more, PS: https://bit.ly/2vlpot0





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