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Multifocal electroretinograms combined with periodic flashes: direct responses and induced components

  • Clinical Investigation
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the retinal responses generated by flash interactions in a recently introduced “global (full-screen) flash” stimulus paradigm to record the multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG).

Methods

Five normal individuals were studied with stimulation combining multifocal (pseudorandom) flashes with interleaved global (periodic, full-screen) flashes. The intensities of the two flashes were independently varied. Two distinct first-order response components were obtained: the mean response to the focal flashes (referred to as the direct response, DR) and the effect of the focal flash on the responses evoked by the global flash (the induced component, IC).

Results

Increasing the global flash luminance reduced DR amplitude and shortened DR implicit time. IC amplitude peaked with a moderate global flash (1.33–2.67 cd·s/m2). With a global flash of the right intensity, a weak focal flash could evoke a considerable IC even when the DR was barely detectable. Moderate global flashes maximized the IC, and its intersubject variability was reduced at lower focal flash luminances. IC topography had a large naso-temporal asymmetry.

Conclusions

While the DR is the average response generated by the local flashes regardless of the context of preceding and following flashes, the IC represents the difference in the global flash response in the presence and absence of the preceding focal flash. As the focal flashes were always preceded by the periodically occurring global flashes, the DR reflects the resulting adapted or desensitized state of the retinal patch. The pure, nonlinear IC is thought to reflect predominantly inner retinal function.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Alex Lomakin for the software development and Yong Li for recording assistance. Grant support: Grant No. 5-1998-6 from Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (New York, NY), grant No. EY06861 from National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Bethesda, MD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Saitama Medical School, 38 Morohongo, Moroyama, Iruma, Saitama, 350-0495, Japan

    Yoshiaki Shimada

  2. University of California School of Optometry, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Marcus A. Bearse Jr

  3. The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Erich E. Sutter

Authors
  1. Yoshiaki Shimada
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  2. Marcus A. Bearse Jr
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  3. Erich E. Sutter
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Correspondence to Yoshiaki Shimada.

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Shimada, Y., Bearse, M.A. & Sutter, E.E. Multifocal electroretinograms combined with periodic flashes: direct responses and induced components. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 243, 132–141 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-004-1072-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-004-1072-y

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