Relationships Among Pupil Responses to Light, Circadian Rhythms, and Sleep

Documenting Relationships Among Pupil Responses to Light, Circadian Rhythms, and Sleep in Healthy People and Those With Disorders or Disease

Status

Not yet recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT07753889

Acronym

SCOPE

Enrollment

100

Registered

2026-08-10

Start date

2027-09-01

Completion date

2035-12-01

Last updated

2026-09-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Circadian Rhythm, Pupillometry, Sleep

Keywords

Pupil (eye), Light, Circadian Rhythms, Sleep

Brief summary

The investigators are studying relationships among eye pathology, pupil responses to light, sleep, circadian rhythms, and hormones in healthy individuals and those with various medical disorders or illnesses. All participants will: * Answer questionnaires about their health * Receive an eye exam, * For one week at home, participants will track their sleep and wake using actigraphy (wrist worn wearable) and an online sleep diary. * Complete a pupillometry session (measuring pupil size in response to different lighting) at MGH Participants may also choose to participate in the following additional procedures in any order: * Within one week of their pupillometry session, an at-home saliva collection under dim light. Saliva melatonin can be analyzed to determine Dim-Light-Melatonin-Onset (DLMO), a marker of circadian timing. * If participants participate in one night saliva collection, a second night of at-home saliva collection with a bright light exposure to calculate melatonin suppression in response to light.

Interventions

OTHEROcular light exposure from portable light box

One night of dim light exposure and one night of bright light exposure. Lighting from the portable light box

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 85 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* 18-85 years old. * stable medically * ability to speak, understand and read English at a high school level

Exclusion criteria

* any history of eye trauma or surgery besides correctable vision abnormalities (e.g., with glasses); any abnormalities on clinical eye exam (e.g., neuritis, Neuromyelitis optica, untreated glaucoma) such that the ophthalmologist recommends the participant not be studied; * prescription or non-prescription drugs affecting the pupil (e.g., affecting autonomic function), sleep, melatonin (e.g., lithium, alpha- and beta-adrenergic antagonists), and/or circadian rhythms (e.g., beta blockers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, tricyclics\\ * shift- or night-work in past three months; * crossing more than 2 time zones in past three months; * pregnant or less than 6 months post-partum or breastfeeding.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Pupil size	1 hour of pupillometry	Pupil size (mm) in response to pupillometry light stimuli using a pupillometry machine

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO) from saliva	8 hours	Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO) calculated from salivary melatonin collected during night of ocular dim light exposure

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTElizabeth Klerman, MD PhD

MGB_OSCAR@mgb.org617-643-2424

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORElizabeth Klerman, MD PhD

MGB

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Sep 9, 2026