Pattern electroretinogram as a function of spatial frequency after retrobulbar optic neuritis

✍ Scribed by Benedetto Falsini; Antonio Bardocci; Silvano Cermola; Vittorio Porciatti; Giovanni Porrello

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 627 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0012-4486
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00160947

✦ Synopsis

pattern electroretinograms in response to counterphased sinusoidal gratings of variable spatial frequency (0.6-4.8 c/deg) were recorded in 17 patients who had had retrobulbar optic neuritis in one or both eyes (23 eyes with a clinical history of optic neuritis) and in 2l age-matched normal subjects. Amplitude and phase of the Fourier-analyzed pattern electroretinogram second harmonic were measured. The mean pattern electroretinogram amplitude of patients was significantly reduced compared with that of controls. Amplitude reductions were more marked at intermediate (1-1.4 c/deg) than at lower or higher spatial frequencies. Therefore, the average amplitude versus spatial frequency response function differed significantly in patients compared with controls, displaying a lowpass instead of a band-pass shape. No significant differences in the mean pattern electroretinogram phase were observed between groups at any spatial frequency. These results indicate spatial frequencydependent abnormalities in the pattern eleetroretinogram amplitude after optic neuritis, suggesting a specific loss of retinal neurons sensitive to stimuli of intermediate spatial frequencies.