FDTD Simulation of Electromagnetic Wave Scattering from Retina Cells

Finite difference time domain (FDTD) method was developed to model changes in the light scattering properties of retinal photoreceptors resulting from the functional response of living retina to external light stimulation. Physiological processes such as membrane hyper-polarization and conformation changes of rhodopsin in the photoreceptors outer segment (OS) were simulated by varying the optical properties of the cell organelles. The FDTD code was validated by comparing the results from a 2D simulation of light scattering from an infinite cylinder to the Mie analytical solution for the same geometry. Results from the FDTD simulations show that hyper-polarization of the outer cell membrane is the least likely cause for the observed increase in light scattering in photoreceptors. Other computational data suggests that the experimentally observed changes in reflectivity are most likely related to cell dynamics and to cell volume changes.