Light in womb has effect on developing eye

Normal foetal eye development in mice is related to light exposure during pregnancy, according to latest research in the US.

Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have identified a light-response pathway that controls the number of retinal neurons, and has effects on developing vasculature in the eye.

The unexpected findings, published in Nature, were said to offer a new basic understanding of foetal eye development and ocular diseases caused by vascular disorders, in particular retinopathy of prematurity.

Professor David Copenhagen of the departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology at UCSF, said: 'Several stages of mouse eye development occur after birth. Because of this, we had always assumed that if light played a role in the development of the eye, it would also happen only after birth.'