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The Electroretinogram, as Analyzed by Microelectrode Studies

  • Chapter
Physiology of Photoreceptor Organs

Part of the book series: Handbook of Sensory Physiology ((1536,volume 7 / 2))

Abstract

It was more than a century ago that Holmgren (1865) discovered the electrical response of the retina to light, the electroretinogram (ERG) of the present day. The ERG is usually recorded with a pair of electrodes placed on the opposite sides of the retina. The ERG may differ in shape according to the species and the state of adaptation (Fig. 1), but typically it starts with a cornea-negative deflection termed the a-wave, followed by a cornea-positive deflection (b-wave). At the termination of light there occurs another deflection (d-wave), the polarity of which is either cornea-positive or cornea-negative, depending on the species used. In the dark adapted retina, there is also a very slow cornea-positive deflection (c-wave).

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  1. Tokyo, Japan

    Tsuneo Tomita

  2. New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Tsuneo Tomita

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  1. National Institutes of Health, Room 2C02, Building 36, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014, USA

    M. G. F. Fuortes

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Tomita, T. (1972). The Electroretinogram, as Analyzed by Microelectrode Studies. In: Fuortes, M.G.F. (eds) Physiology of Photoreceptor Organs. Handbook of Sensory Physiology, vol 7 / 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65340-7_18

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