Retinomotor activity and the c-wave of the hypoxic trout retina.
The teleost retina exhibits retinomotor activity in response to changing light intensity. We have shown that hypoxia interfers with normal retinomotor activity in the dark-adapted rainbow trout, so that the retina assumes an essentially light-adapted configuration with the cones contracted, the rods extended toward the pigmented epithelium, and epithelial pigment expanded. These cell movements appear to be correlated with the marked increase in ERG c-wave amplitude which we consistently observe during hypoxia in trout. Since the a-wave is not immediately affected by hypoxia, this increase in c-wave amplitude may be related to the movement of the rods toward the pigmented epithelium, which would cause a greater than normal change in extracellular [K+] near the apical membrane in response to a light stimulus, leading to an increase in c-wave amplitude.
D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D003623:Dark Adaptation; D004596:Electroretinography; D005399:Fishes; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008029:Lighting; D010507:Periodicity; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000473:pathology; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000473:pathology; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*