Dental Lighting Environment Induces Disruption of the Blood-Retinal Barrier
Excessive lighting is integral to dentists' daily routines but can impair their vision, affecting personal and professional performance. Most studies focus on acute photodamage, neglecting chronic photoinjury from dental lighting and its impact on the blood-retinal barrier homeostasis. An epidemiological survey involving 14,523 individuals reveals dentists have a higher prevalence of vision-related issues compared to other occupations. Subsequently, chronic photodamage models in rats were created to accurately simulate dental working conditions. Using systematic imaging and gene analysis, including OCT, tissue clearing technology and RNA-sequencing, dental lighting was found to disrupted both inner and outer blood-retinal barriers, reduced retinal blood vessels, and promoted perivascular macrophage recruitment. Moreover, the activation of inflammatory-related pathways such as NF-?B signalling resulted in the damage of vision-related functional structures in the retina. Notably, among the three commonly used dental lighting sources, low-intensity halogen light possessed a minimal impact on the retina, while blue and white LEDs have remarkable negative effects on blood-retinal barrier homeostasis. This study explored the potential mechanism of dental lighting environment inducing the disruption of blood-retinal barrier homeostasis, and provided essential guidance for dental professionals in selecting light sources, which is conducive to reducing the risk of occupational ocular diseases among dentists. Overall design: After 6 months of exposure to light, extract rat retina tissues from different light groups, including Control, Halogen 200, Halogen 1000, Blue 200, Blue 1000, White 200, White 1000, a total of seven groups, each with three samples, for RNA transcriptome sequencing