Background
Vulnerability to the reduction in natural light associated with fall/winter is generally
accepted as the main trigger of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), whereas light therapy
is a treatment of choice of the disorder. However, the relationship between exposure
to light and mood regulation remains unclear. As compared with green light, blue light
was shown to acutely modulate emotion brain processing in healthy individuals. Here,
we investigated the impact of light on emotion brain processing in patients with SAD
and healthy control subjects and its relationship with retinal light sensitivity.
Methods
Fourteen symptomatic untreated patients with SAD (34.5 ± 8.2 years; 9 women) and 16
healthy control subjects (32.3 ± 7.7 years; 11 women) performed an auditory emotional
task in functional magnetic resonance imaging during the fall/winter season, while
being exposed to alternating blue and green monochromatic light. Scotopic and photopic
retinal light sensitivities were then evaluated with electroretinography.
Results
Blue light enhanced responses to auditory emotional stimuli in the posterior hypothalamus
in patients with SAD, whereas green light decreased these responses. These effects
of blue and green light were not observed in healthy control subjects, despite similar
retinal sensitivity in SAD and control subjects.
Conclusions
These results point to the posterior hypothalamus as the neurobiological substrate
involved in specific aspects of SAD, including a distinctive response to light and
altered emotional responses.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 08, 2011
Accepted:
June 20,
2011
Received in revised form:
June 20,
2011
Received:
March 9,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
