Hereditary retinal dystrophies are most often disorders of photoreceptors and/or the retinal pigment epithelium. Structures secondary to the photoreceptor layer such as bipolar, horizontal, amacrine and ganglion cells are secondarily involved. In later stages of the disease a mild to moderate loss of inner retina occurs, but the second and third neurons remain surprisingly viable even in late a...

Purpose. To describe both the functional and pathological alternations in neurosensory retina in a murine model of spontaneous type 2 diabetes (db/db mouse). Methods. db/db (BKS/DB-/-) mice and heterozygous littermates (as control group) at various ages (12, 16, 20, 24, and 28 weeks) were inspected with pattern electroretinogram (PERG), fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), and optical coherenc...

Objectives: To evaluate visual electrophysiological responses in subjects with cerebral autosomal arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). Methods: Three subjects (one male and two females, mean age 55.3 ^ 2.9 years) belonging to an Italian family already diagnosed with CADASIL through clinicopathological and genetic studies and 14 control subjects (6 males and ...

BACKGROUND To assess which of three methods, namely, optical coherence tomography (OCT), pattern electroretinogram (PERG) or frequency-doubling technology (FDT), is the most sensitive and specific for detecting early glaucomatous damage in ocular hypertension (OH). METHODS Fifty-two patients with OH (24 men and 28 women, mean age of 56 ± 9.6 years) with an intraocular pressure (IOP) > 21 mm H...

PURPOSE The current study examined if opioid-receptor-activation by morphine can improve retinal function and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) integrity in a chronic glaucoma rat model. METHODS IOP was raised in Brown Norway rats by injecting hypertonic saline into the limbal venous system. Rats were treated daily with 1 mg/kg morphine for 28 days at 24-hour intervals; animals were examined for ch...

Purpose Both pattern electroretinography (PERG) and visual evoked potentials (VEP) can be performed using low- (15%; Lc) and high- (85%; Hc) contrast gratings that may preferentially stimulate the magno- and parvocellular pathways. We observed that among glaucomatous patients showing only one VEP latency deficit per eye, there appeared to be a very strong tendency for an Hc delay in one eye and...

We have characterized adaptive changes of inner retina function in response to sustained pattern stimulation in 32 normal subjects with an age range 23-77 years by measuring changes of the pattern electroretinogram (PERG) as a function of time. Contrast-reversal stimuli had square-wave profile in space and time, with peak spatial and temporal frequency and high contrast to maximize response amp...

PURPOSE To characterize progressive changes of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) function and intraocular pressure (IOP) in the DBA/2J mouse model of spontaneous glaucoma. METHODS Serial pattern electroretinograms (PERGs) and IOPs measures were obtained from both eyes of 32 anesthetized DBA/2J mice over an age range of 2 to 12 months at 1-month intervals. Cone-driven flash-ERGs (FERGs) were also re...

OBJECTIVE Our study aims to assess the optic nerve fiber layer thickness in vivo, the function of the innermost retinal layer and whether a correlation exists between morphological and functional parameters in patients affected by Alzheimer's Disease (AD). METHODS Seventeen AD patients (mean age 70.37+/-6.1 years, best corrected visual acuity >8/10 with refractive error between +/-3 sf, intra...

PURPOSE A pattern electroretinogram (PERG) in which stimuli displaying the frequency-doubling (FD) illusion are presented simultaneously to multiple parts of the visual field was evaluated for its ability to diagnose glaucoma. This multiregion FD PERG is referred to in the current study as the MFP. METHODS The nine stimulus regions were temporally modulated at incommensurate frequencies typic...