Sadun A A, Schaechter J D, Smith L E
Brain Res. 1984 Jun 8;302(2):371-7. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(84)90252-x.
It has been proposed that, in animals, a retinohypothalamic pathway exists which mediates the synchronization of the diurnal light-dark cycle with the central neural components regulating endogenous rhythms. There have been numerous anatomic, physiologic and behavioral investigations to substantiate this proposed connection in experimental animals. Morphologic investigation of a retinohypothalamic tract in man has awaited the development of a technique capable of axonal tracing in the human brain. The paraphenylenediamine method was applied to 7 post-mortem human brains. Degenerated axons were found in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus in each of the 4 patients who had incurred prior optic nerve damage. The retinosuprachiasmatic pathway may be the anatomical substrate for the integration of retinal light information with endogenous rhythms in man.
有人提出，在动物中存在一条视网膜下丘脑通路，该通路介导昼夜明暗周期与调节内源性节律的中枢神经成分之间的同步。已经有许多解剖学、生理学和行为学研究来证实实验动物中这种假定的联系。对人类视网膜下丘脑束的形态学研究一直等待着一种能够在人脑进行轴突追踪技术的发展。将对苯二胺法应用于7例尸检人脑。在4例先前有视神经损伤的患者中，每例患者的下丘脑视交叉上核中都发现了变性轴突。视网膜-视交叉上通路可能是人类视网膜光信息与内源性节律整合的解剖学基础。
