Chromatophores are also used as a biomarker of blindness in cold-blooded species, as animals with certain visual defects fail to background adapt to light environments.

Patients may present with consciousness problems, headaches, nausea, visual defects, fatigue, disturbance of eye movements and pupillary reflexes, or coma.

Research programs include cognitive development and decline, childhood visual defects, organ transplantation, the behavioral effects of hormone replacement therapy and social behaviors of primates.