The frequency characteristics of accommodative microfluctuations for central and peripheral zones of the human crystalline lens

Temporal variations in the nominally steady-state accommodation response can be characterized approximately by two principal regions of dominant activity: a low frequency region (LFR less than 0.6 Hz) and a high frequency region (HFR greater than 1.0 Hz). The observed changes of activity in the LFR induced by varying stimulus conditions has led to the proposal that this region may be utilized as an error detector in the accommodation feed-back loop. The role of fluctuations in the HFR is, however, equivocal particularly as several reports have shown their magnitude to be positively correlated with pupil size. The implication is that HFRs are a consequence of the mechanical and elastic properties of peripheral rather than central zones of the crystalline lens and hence do not contribute to the accommodation control process. The aim of the study was to compare the incidence and magnitude of microfluctuations in LFRs and HFRs for central and peripheral lens zones when viewing a near target. Accommodation was measured continuously with a modified Canon Autoref R1 infra-red optometer on five young emmetropic subjects. We show that although the total power of the microfluctuations is reduced in the periphery, the form of the power spectra is similar for central and peripheral zones. Thus rather than being spurious effects caused by the periphery of the lens HFRs are present for both central and peripheral lens zones