Mammalian eyes

The reason why our eyes weep copiously when peeling an onion is because the onion contains minute pockets of sulphur trioxide, S03(g). Cutting the onion releases this gas. A mammalian eye is covered with a thin film of water-based liquid ( tears ) to minimize friction with the eyelid. The tears occur in response to SO3 dissolving in this layer of water to form sulphuric acid ... 

Weit That is not relevant to my question. The problem is that there is a clock in the mammalian eye. It doesn t matter where the dock is or what cells it is in, there is a clock in the retina that controls visual sensitivity by means yet to be clarified. We know that the clock is not in the melanopsin-expressing ganglion cells, but that doesn t matter for the issue that I am raising. 

Reale, E., Groos, S., Luciano, L., Eckardt, C., and Eckardt, U. (2001). In the Mammalian Eye Type VI collagen forms three morphologically different aggregates. Matrix Biol. 20, 37-51. 

In contrast to NMR and MRI, optical spectroscopy imaging techniques utilize radiation at an energy level high enough to allow individual photons to be measured relatively easily with modem equipment at a detection sensitivity almost matched by the mammalian eye. As a result, the sensitivity and inherent temporal... 

The photosensitive compound of most mammalian eyes is a protein called opsin to which is covalently coupled an aldehyde of vitamin A, and is called rhodopsin or visual purple. 

Figure 27-7 Calibration curve for the spectrofluorometric determination of tryptophan in soluble proteins from the lens of a mammalian eye.

Silver J, Hughes AF. 1973. The role of cell death during morphogenesis of the mammalian eye. J Morphol 140 159-170. 

Bito LZ, Baroody RA. The penetration of exogenous prostaglandin and arachidonic acid into, and their distribution within, the mammalian eye. Curr Eye Res 1981 1 659-669. 

Ueda, T., Ueda, T., and Armstrong, D., Preventive effect of natural and synthetic antioxidants on lipid peroxidation in the mammalian eye. Ophthalmic Res., 28,184-192,1996. 

A pteridine is considered to be the primary receptor of the electrons liberated by light in photosynthesis (Fuller et al., 1971) and a pteridine in the mammalian eye is presumed to be the agent which protects against the blinding effect of light (Cremer-Bartels, 1975). Cancerous cells break down biopterin to neopterin, the concentration of which in the urine may have diagnostic significance (Rokos et al, 1980). 

Ryan DG, Oliveira-Femandes M, Lavker RM (2006) MicroRNAs of the mammalian eye display distinct and overlapping tissue specificity. Molecular Vision 12 1175-1184. 

Anthocyanins typically absorb at 520-560 nm, a region of the spectrum to which mammalian eyes are most sensitive. These compounds are important pigments in flowers and fruits and play major roles in pollination mechanisms and fruit dispersal (Harbome, 1991). Chlorophyll, carotenoids, and phytochrome have minimal absorption in this region. 

There is a wealth of experimental evidence gained from psychophysical studies on humans (e.g. Duchowski, 2002) desalbing the way in which we scan a visual scene. Our eyes are controlled by series of short, fast movements known as saccades. These can be reflex actions derived from a stimulus in the field of view (bottom up) or guided by a conscious (or unconscious) desire to search a particular part of the field of view (top down). Part of the reason for saccadic eye motion is that mammalian eyes do not have even visual acuity across the whole field of view. In fact, the central part of the light-sensitive retina (the fovea) has the highest resolution. So, an entire microscope field of view, for example, can be seen by a series of search-based saccades that direct the eyes towards attractors in the scene. Reflex eye movements tend toward colour and high-contrast areas of the visual field. 

---