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• Encephalopsin, also called Panopsin, is a recently discovered extraretinal photoreceptor, which may play a role in non-visual photic processes such as the entrainment of circadian rhythm or the regulation of pineal melatonin production [1].
• Encephalopsin is highly expressed in the preoptic area and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, both regions implicated in encephalic photoreception in nonmammalian vertebrates [2].
• In addition, encephalopsin shows highly patterned expression in other regions of the brain, being enriched in selected regions of the cerebral cortex, cerebellar Purkinje cells, a subset of striatal neurons, selected thalamic nuclei, and a subset of interneurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord [2].

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