Publisher: First Affiliated Hospital  

Date: July 19, 2024

The impact of environmental light on physiological functions is profound, influencing not only vision but also non-image forming visual functions such as emotion regulation, cognition, pain perception, and circadian rhythms. Clinical studies have demonstrated that bright light therapy can alleviate symptoms in patients suffering from various types of itching; however, the underlying neural mechanisms of this anti-itch effect remain unclear.

（https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38865246/）

Recently, Professor Ren Chaoran's team from the First Affiliated Hospital published a pivotal research paper titled A Visual Circuit Related to the Parabrachial Nuclei for the Antipruritic Effects of Bright Light Treatment in Cell Reports, a prestigious journal under Cell Press. This study reveals that bright light therapy can reduce itch-induced scratching behavior by activating a specific neural pathway involving the Retina, ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN/IGL), and lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN).

Hu Zhengfang, a postdoctoral fellow at the First Affiliated Hospital, is the first author of the paper. Ren Chaoran, a researcher at the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Central Nervous Regeneration Research Institute of Jinan University, focuses on the neural mechanisms and translational intervention strategies related to non-image forming visual functions. This research has been supported by various funding sources, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Key Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation.

Hu Zhengfang's research primarily investigates the neural circuit mechanisms through which external light information regulates brain function, under the supervision of Researcher Ren Chaoran. Her work has been published in notable journals such as Neuron and Cell Reports.