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Orexin influences pupil size

The way the brain regulates pupil size is different from previously thought: fundamentally responsible is the neurotransmitter orexin, as researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown. This discovery could well alter our understanding of consciousness and illnesses such as narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s.

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Not only light changes the size of the pupil, mental strain and emotional impressions also have an influence on it (symbol image). (Photograph: Adobe Stock / Montage)

In brief

  • When the orexin neurons in the brain are stimulated, pupils expand, new research in mice shows.
  • Orexin is central to the regulation of pupil size. When the orexin system is switched off, the pupils remain constricted.
  • In future, scientists would like to use pupil size to measure the activity of orexin neurons.

ETH news