Circadian rhythms regulate refractive development across species.

Apr 17, 2026bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Daily biological rhythms influence eye growth in different species

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

In a study of >265,000 individuals, a late chronotype was associated with myopia.

Circadian misalignment may contribute to abnormal eye growth linked to myopia.
Experimental disruption of circadian rhythms in mice caused a reversible myopic shift.
Changes in retinal gene expression involved pathways related to energy production and oxygen levels.
Transcriptional changes were observed across various types of retinal cells.

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Myopia is a rapidly escalating global public health challenge, yet the biological mechanisms linking modern lifestyles to abnormal eye growth remain unclear. Circadian rhythms have been implicated in refractive development, but causal evidence is limited. Here, we integrate population-scale human data with an experimental animal model to determine whether circadian misalignment contributes to myopia. In >265,000 individuals from the Estonian and UK Biobanks, late chronotype was consistently associated with myopia. To assess causality, we experimentally disrupted the alignment between behavioural and environmental rhythms in mice by housing them in non-24-hour light-dark schedules. Exposure to a lengthened cycle (T26) induced a myopic shift that was, notably, reversible in early adulthood. Retinal transcriptomics revealed enrichment of mitochondrial and hypoxia-related plasticity pathways, with transcriptional changes distributed across multiple retinal cell classes. Together, these findings identify circadian misalignment as a conserved and modifiable driver of myopia, highlighting opportunities for novel preventive and therapeutic approaches.

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Circadian rhythms regulate refractive development across species.

Abstract

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