The Differential Contribution of Macular Pigments and Foveal Anatomy to the Perception of Maxwell’s Spot and Haidinger’s Brushes

Gary P. Misson, Rebekka Heitmar, Richard Armstrong, Stephen J. Anderson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The relationship of macular pigments and foveal anatomy to the perception of Maxwell’s spot (MS) and Haidinger’s brushes (HB) entoptic phenomena were investigated. Dual-wavelength-autofluorescence and OCT were used to define macular pigment density and foveal anatomy in 52 eyes. MS was generated by alternating unpolarized red/blue and red/green uniform field illumination. HB was generated by alternating the linear polarization axis of a uniform blue field. In Experiment 1, horizontal widths of MS and HB were measured using a micrometer system and compared with macular pigment densities and OCT-defined morphometry. MS radius (mean 1.4°) was significantly less than HB radius (mean 1.6°), with the spatial extent of both phenomena falling between the boundaries of the foveola and foveal pit. Multiple regression showed MS and HB radii to be significantly associated with the macular pigment spatial profile radius. HB radius, but not MS radius, was also significantly associated with foveolar morphometry. Experiment 2 compared perceptual profiles of MS with macular pigment distribution patterns and demonstrated close agreement. The size and appearance of MS is a direct indicator of macular pigment density and distribution. Measures of HB radii are less specific, with dependence on both macular pigment density and foveal structure.
Original languageEnglish
Article number11
Number of pages12
JournalVision
Volume7
Issue number1
Early online date6 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

  • Haidinger’s brushes
  • Maxwell’s spot
  • central vision
  • entoptic phenomena
  • fovea
  • macula
  • macular pigment
  • polarized light

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