Effects of continuous light exposure on the rat retina and pineal gland.

We examined the effects of intense continuous light (400 ftc for 10 days) on the morphology and immunoreactivity of the rat retina and pineal gland. The light treatment caused severe degeneration in the retina, with loss of most photoreceptor cells, and produced a marked decrease in S-antigen immunoreactivity in this organ. Unlike the retina, the light treatment had minimal effects on the histological structure of the pineal gland. However, pineal glands of light-treated rats exhibited a substantial reduction in their S-antigen immunoactivity, as demonstrated immunohistochemically and quantitatively verified by the rocket immunoelectrophoresis technique: pineal glands of light exposed rats had approximately two-thirds of the S-antigen immunoactivity of the untreated controls. Light treatment was also found to reduce both uveoretinitis and pinealitis in rats immunized with S-antigen. Yet pinealitis was not affected by light exposure in rats, as they were enucleated before treatment. This study thus provides new information to support the notion that the mammalian pineal gland is directly associated with light detection by the retina.