Contribution of rod and cone pathways to the dark-adapted electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave following retinal degeneration in RCS rats.
Although the RCS rat is widely used as a model of progressive photoreceptor loss, it is unclear how the relative rod and cone functions change with age. Rod and cone b-waves were isolated using a double flash ERG paradigm. In contrast to cones, rods never reached normal functional maturity levels, and the ERG b-wave changed from being predominantly rod-driven to being purely cone-driven by age 74 days, at which point, b-waves were progressively replaced by negative STR-like (scotopic threshold response) waves that persisted up to age 180 days. A double flash commonly abolished this wave and unveiled a b-wave.
Pinilla
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Moran Eye Center, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah, 75 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA.
Lund
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RD
Sauvé
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Y
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003623:Dark Adaptation; D018450:Disease Progression; D004596:Electroretinography; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000503:physiopathology*