title: Impact of aging and age-related maculopathy on inactivation of the a-wave of the rod-mediated electroretinogram.
abstract: This study examined the impact of aging and age-related maculopathy (ARM) on the inactivation of phototransduction in rod photoreceptors by measuring the recovery of the a-wave using a paired flash electroretinogram technique. Measurements were made on 32 older adults in normal retinal health, 25 with early ARM, 7 with late ARM, and 20 young adults for comparison purposes. ARM presence and severity were defined by the Wisconsin Age-Related Maculopathy Grading System based on grading of fundus photographs. The inactivation of rod phototransduction exhibited an aging-related slowing. Those with early ARM did not exhibit inactivation slowing over and above what would be expected based on normal retinal aging. Persons in the late stages of ARM exhibited dramatic slowing in inactivation kinetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McGwin
authors.forename: Janice M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Owsley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D004596:Electroretinography; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular; D014792:Visual Acuity