Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T15:47:11.754Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Postreceptoral adaptation abnormalities in early age-related maculopathy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2007

B. FEIGL
Affiliation:
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
B. BROWN
Affiliation:
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
J. LOVIE-KITCHIN
Affiliation:
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
P. SWANN
Affiliation:
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Abstract

Age-related maculopathy (ARM) has become the major cause of blindness in the Western World. Currently its pathogenesis and primary site of functional damage is not fully understood but ischemia is believed to play a major role. Early detection and precise monitoring of progression of ARM are main goals of current research due to lack of sufficient treatment options, especially in the dry, atrophic form of this disease. We applied the multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) that can detect any local functional deficit objectively in the central retina. We recorded two paradigms in early ARM patients, the fast flicker and the slow flash paradigm which both represent fast adaptation processes of the proximal retina but under differing photopic conditions and stimulation rates. By subtracting the waveform responses we extracted a late component in the difference waveform that was significantly reduced in the early ARM group compared to a healthy control group (p ≤ 0.05). We propose that this multifocal nonlinear analysis permits the detection of adaptative deficits and provides topographic mapping of retinal dysfunction in early ARM. The difference waveform component we extracted with this novel approach might indicate early functional loss in ARM caused by ischemia in postreceptoral layers such as bipolar cells and inner plexiform regions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group. (2001a). The age-related eye disease study system for classifying age-related macular degeneration from stereoscopic color fundus photographs: The Age-Related Eye Disease Study Report Number 6. American Journal of Ophthalmology 132, 668681.Google Scholar
Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group. (2001b). The age-related eye disease study system for classifying cataracts from photographs: AREDS report number 4. American Journal of Ophthalmology 131, 167175.Google Scholar
Arden, G., Sidman, R., Arap, W., & Schlingemann, R. (2005). Spare the rod and spoil the eye. The British Journal of Ophthalmology 89, 764769.Google Scholar
Bailey, I. & Lovie, J. (1976). New design principles for visual acuity letter charts. American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics 53, 740745.Google Scholar
Bearse, M., Jr., Han, Y., Schneck, M., & Adams, A. (2004). Retinal function in normal and diabetic eyes mapped with slow flash multifocal electroretinogram. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 45, 296304.Google Scholar
Bearse, M.J., Shimada, Y., & Sutter, E. (2000). Distribution of oscillatory components in the central retina. Advances in Ophthalmology 100, 185205.Google Scholar
Bird, A. (2003). Age-related macular disease: An ongoing challenge. Clincal and Experimental Ophthalmology 31, 461463.Google Scholar
Brown, B., Tobin, C., Roche, N., & Wolanowski, A. (1986). Cone adaptation in age-related maculopathy. American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics 63, 450454.Google Scholar
Chen, J., Fitzke, F., Pauleikhoff, D., & Bird, A. (1992). Functional loss in age-related Bruch's membrane change with choroidal perfusion defect. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences 33, 334340.Google Scholar
Cimbalas, A., Cerniauskiene, L., Paunksnis, A., Tamosiunas, A., Luksiene, D., & Saferis, V. (2004). Association of age-related maculopathy with ischemic heart disease and its risk factors in middle-aged population of Kaunas city. [Article in Lithuanian]. Medicina (Kaunas) 40, 671676.Google Scholar
Ciulla, T., Harris, A., & Chung, H. (1999). Color doppler imaging discloses reduced ocular blood flow velocities in non-exudative age-related macular degeneration. American Journal of Ophthalmology 128, 7580.Google Scholar
Cringle, S., Yu, D-Y., Yu, P., & Su, E-N. (2002). Intraretinal oxygen consumption in the rat in vivo. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences 43, 19221927.Google Scholar
Feigl, B., Brown, B., Lovie-Kitchin, J., & Swann, P. (2004). Cone-mediated multifocal electroretinogram in early age-related maculopathy and its relationships with subjective macular function tests. Current Eye Research 29, 327336.Google Scholar
Feigl, B., Brown, B., Lovie-Kitchin, J., & Swann, P. (2005). Adaptation responses in early age-related maculopathy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 46, 47224727.Google Scholar
Feigl, B., Brown, B., Lovie-Kitchin, J., & Swann, P. (2006). Functional loss in early age-related maculopathy: The ischaemia postreceptoral hypothesis. Eye (in press).Google Scholar
Fortune, B., Bearse, M., Jr., Cioffi, G., & Johnson, C. (2002). Selective loss of an oscillatory component from temporal retinal multifocal ERG responses in glaucoma. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 43, 26382647.Google Scholar
Gerth, C., Delahunt, P., Suhail, A., Morse, L., & Werne, J. (2006). Cone-mediated multifocal electroretinogram in age-related macular degeneration. Archives of Ophthalmology 124, 345352.Google Scholar
Gerth, C., Hause, D., Delahunt, P., Morse, L., & Werner, J. (2003). Assessment of multifocal electroretinogram abnormalities and their relation to morphologic characteristics with large drusen. Archives of Ophthalmology 121, 14041414.Google Scholar
Greenstein, V., Holopigian, K., Seiple, W., Carr, R., & Hood, D. (2004). Atypical multifocal ERG responses in patients with diseases affecting the photoreceptors. Vision Research 44, 28672874.Google Scholar
Grunwald, J., Hariprasad, S., DuPont, J., Maguire, M., Fine, S., Brucker, A., Maguire, A., & Ho, A. (1998). Foveal choroidal blood flow in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Investigative Ophthalmolology and Visions in Science 39, 385390.Google Scholar
Grunwald, J., Metelitsina, T., DuPont, J., Ying, G-S., & Maguire, M. (2005). Reduced foveolar choroidal blood flow in eyes with increasing AMD severity. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 46, 10331038.Google Scholar
Hageman, G., Anderson, D., Johnson, L., Hancox, L., Taiber, A., Hardisty, L., Hageman, J., Stockman, H., Borchardt, J., Gehrs, K., Smith, R., Silvestri, G., Russell, S., Klaver, C., Barbazetto, I., Chang, S., Yannuzzi, L., Barile, G., Merriam, J., Smith, R., Olsh, A., Bergeron, J., Zernant, J., Merriam, J., Gold, B., Dean, M., & Allikmets, R. (2005). A common haplotype in the complement regulatory gene factor H (HF1/CFH) predisposes individuals to age-related macular degeneration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 72277232.Google Scholar
Han, Y., Bearse, M.J., Schneck, M., Barez, S., Jacobson, C., & Adams, A. (2004). Multifocal electroretinogram delays predict sites of subsequent diabetic retinopathy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 45, 948954.Google Scholar
Hayreh, S. & Gartner, S. (1990). In vivo choroidal circulation and its watershed zones. Eye 4, 273289.Google Scholar
Hood, D. (2000). Assessing retinal function with the multifocal technique. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 19, 607646.Google Scholar
Hood, D., Frishman, L., Saszik, S., & Viswanathan, S. (2002). Retinal origins of the primate multifocal ERG. Implication for the human response. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 43, 16731685.Google Scholar
Hood, D., Holopigian, K., Greenstein, V., Seiple, W., Li, J., Sutter, E., & Carr, R. (1998). Assessment of local retinal function in patients with retinitis pigmentosa using the multi-focal ERG technique. Vision Research 38, 163179.Google Scholar
Klein, R., Zeiss, C., Chew, E., Tsai, J-Y., Sackler, R., Haynes, C., Henning, A., SanGiovanni, J., Mane, S., Mayne, S., Bracken, M., Ferris, F., Ott, J., Barnstable, C., & Hoh, J. (2005). Complement factor H polymorphism in age-related macular degeneration. Science 308, 385389.Google Scholar
Massay, S. (1990). Cell types using glutamate as a neurotransmitter in the vertebrate retina. In Progress in retinal research, eds. Osborne, N.N. & Chader, G.J., pp. 339425. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
Palmowski, A., Allgayer, R., Heinemann-Vernaleken, B., & Ruprecht, K. (2001). First and second order changes in the multifocal electroretinogram of patients with different forms of age related macular degeneration. In Vision Science and its Application. OSA Tech Dig Ser., pp. 3235. Washington, DC: Optical Society of America.
Palmowski, A., Sutter, E., Bearse, M., Jr., & Fung, W. (1997). Mapping of retinal function in diabetic retinopathy using the multifocal electroretinogram. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 38, 25862596.Google Scholar
Pauleikhoff, D., Chen, J., Chisholm, I., & Bird, A. (1990). Choroidal perfusion abnormality with age-related Bruch's membrane change. American Journal of Ophthalmology 109, 211217.Google Scholar
Pavlidis, M., Stupp, T., Georgalas, I., Georgiaduo, E., Moschos, M., & Thanos, S. (2005). Multifocal electroretinography changes in the macula at high altitude: A report of three cases. Ophthalmologica 219, 404412.Google Scholar
Phipps, J., Guymer, R., & Vingrys, A. (2003). Loss of cone function in age-related maculopathy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 44, 22772283.Google Scholar
Provis, J., Penfold, P., Cornish, E., Sandercoe, T., & Madigan, M. (2005). Anatomy and development of the macula: Specialisation and the vulnerability to macular degeneration. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 88, 269281.Google Scholar
Sarks, J., Sarks, S., & Killingworth, M. (1988). Evolution of geographic atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium. Eye 2, 552577.Google Scholar
Strettoi, E., Porciatti, V., Falsini, B., & Pignatelli, V., Rossi, C. (2002). Morphological and functional abnormalities in the inner retina of the rd/rd mouse. Journal of Neuroscience 22, 54925504.Google Scholar
Sunness, J., Johnson, M., Massof, R., & Marcus, S. (1988). Retinal sensitivity over drusen and nondrusen areas. Archives of Ophthalmology 106, 10811084.Google Scholar
Sutter, E. (2000). The interpretation of multifocal binary kernels. Advances in Ophthalmology 100, 4975.Google Scholar
Sutter, E. & Bearse, M. (1999). The optic nerve head component of the human ERG. Vision Research 39, 419436.Google Scholar
Sutter, E. & Tran, D. (1992). The field topography of ERG components in man-I. the photopic luminance response. Vision Research 32, 433446.Google Scholar
Swann, P. & Lovie-Kitchin, J. (1991). Age-related maculopathy. II: The nature of the central visual field loss. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics 11, 5970.Google Scholar