title: Pharmacological effects on accommodative adaptation.
abstract: We review the research which has attempted to determine whether the characteristics of autonomic innervation of ciliary smooth muscle are relevant to the process of accommodative adaptation. The effect of various topical autonomic drugs on the three phases of adaptation were analyzed: pre-task tonic accommodation (open-loop); within-task accommodative response (closed-loop); and post-task regression of accommodation to pre-task tonic levels. Although it is clear that parasympathetic innervation predominates, there is evidence that some individuals utilize supplementary inhibitory sympathetic innervation. When sympathetic innervation is augmented by substantial levels of concurrent parasympathetic accommodative activity, it may serve to attenuate the magnitude and duration of post-task shifts in tonic accommodation. It is proposed that individuals with a deficit in sympathetic inhibition may therefore be predisposed to anomalies of accommodative adaptation. However, the mechanism by which the oculomotor system responds to such predisposition is at present obscure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vision Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, England.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gilmartin
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bullimore
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenfield
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winn
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Owens
mesh_terms: D000065:Accommodation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects*; D000221:Adaptation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects*; D001337:Autonomic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D002924:Ciliary Body / Q000294:innervation; D006801:Humans; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000294:innervation; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001337:Autonomic Agents