Pseudopupil

In the compound eye of invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans, the pseudopupil appears as a dark spot which moves across the eye as the animal is rotated.^[1] This occurs because the ommatidia that one observes "head-on" (along their optical axes) absorb the incident light, while those to one side reflect it.^[2] The pseudopupil therefore reveals which ommatidia are aligned with the axis along which the observer is viewing.^[2]

Pseudopupil analysis technique

The pseudopupil analysis technique is used to study neurodegeneration in insects like Drosophila. An adult Drosophila eye consists of nearly 800 unit ommatidia which are repeated in a symmetrical pattern. Each ommatidium contains 8 photoreceptor cells, each of which forms a rhabdomere (rhabdomeres 7 and 8 overlap vertically; therefore, only rhabdomere 7 is visible externally). Neurodegeneration leads to loss or degradation of photoreceptors.^[3] By visualizing and counting the intact rhabdomeres, degradation level can be measured. Thus, analyzing the pseudopupil can permit empirical study of neurodegeneration.

References

^ M. F. Land; G. Gibson; J. Horwood; J. Zeil (1999). "Fundamental differences in the optical structure of the eyes of nocturnal and diurnal mosquitoes" (PDF). Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 185 (1): 91–103. doi:10.1007/s003590050369. S2CID 9114187. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
^ ^a ^b Jochen Zeil & Maha M. Al-Mutairi (1996). "Variations in the optical properties of the compound eyes of Uca lactea annulipes" (PDF). The Journal of Experimental Biology. 199 (7): 1569–1577. PMID 9319471.
^ Song, Wan; Smith, Marianne R.; Syed, Adeela; Lukacsovich, Tamas; Barbaro, Brett A.; Purcell, Judith; Bornemann, Doug J.; Burke, John; Marsh, J. Lawrence (2013). Morphometric analysis of Huntington's disease neurodegeneration in Drosophila. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1017. pp. 41–57. doi:10.1007/978-1-62703-438-8_3. ISBN 978-1-62703-437-1. ISSN 1940-6029. PMID 23719906.

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[Land-1] M. F. Land; G. Gibson; J. Horwood; J. Zeil (1999). "Fundamental differences in the optical structure of the eyes of nocturnal and diurnal mosquitoes" (PDF). Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 185 (1): 91–103. doi:10.1007/s003590050369. S2CID 9114187. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-07-27.

[Zeil-2] Jochen Zeil & Maha M. Al-Mutairi (1996). "Variations in the optical properties of the compound eyes of Uca lactea annulipes" (PDF). The Journal of Experimental Biology. 199 (7): 1569–1577. PMID 9319471.

[3] Song, Wan; Smith, Marianne R.; Syed, Adeela; Lukacsovich, Tamas; Barbaro, Brett A.; Purcell, Judith; Bornemann, Doug J.; Burke, John; Marsh, J. Lawrence (2013). Morphometric analysis of Huntington's disease neurodegeneration in Drosophila. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1017. pp. 41–57. doi:10.1007/978-1-62703-438-8_3. ISBN 978-1-62703-437-1. ISSN 1940-6029. PMID 23719906.

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v t e Vision in animals
Vision	Birds Chameleons Dinosaurs Fish Toads Mammals horses dogs cats
Eyes	Arthropod eye Compound eye Eagle eye Eye shine Simple eye in invertebrates Mammalian eye human Mollusc eye cephalopod gastropod Holochroal eye Parietal eye Schizochroal eye
Evolution	Evolution of the eye Evolution of color vision Evolution of color vision in primates
Coloration	Albinism Animal coloration Aposematism Camouflage Chromatophore Counter-illumination Countershading Crypsis Deimatic behaviour Disruptive coloration coincident Eyespot (mimicry) Mimicry Structural coloration Underwater camouflage
Related topics	Animal senses Blindness in animals Eyespot apparatus Feature detection Infrared sensing in snakes Monocular deprivation Ommatidium Palpebral (bone) Pseudopupil Rhopalium Underwater vision Visual perception