Visual Neuroscience

Table of Contents - March 2011 - Volume 28, Issue 02  

Research Articles

The influence of retinal illuminance on L- and M-cone driven electroretinograms

JAN KREMERSa1a2 c1, NEIL R.A. PARRYa3, ATHANASIOS PANORGIASa4 and IAN J. MURRAYa4

a1 Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

a2 School of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK

a3 Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester and Vision Science Centre, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester, UK

a4 Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Abstract

The electroretinographic response to L- and M-cone isolating stimuli was measured at different luminance levels to study the effect of retinal illuminance on amplitude and phase, and how this may influence estimates of L:M ratios in the retina. It was found that the amplitude of L- and M-cone driven responses increases differently with increasing retinal illuminance: L-cone responses increase more quickly than those of M-cones. The L:M ratio does not change strongly with retinal illuminance. The phase of both L- and M-cone driven responses advances with increasing retinal illuminance. There is considerable interindividual variability in the phase difference between the two, but generally M-cone driven responses are phase advanced.

(Received October 27 2010)

(Accepted December 17 2010)

(Online publication February 23 2011)

Keywords

Correspondence:

c1 Address for correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. Jan Kremers, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. E-mail: jan.kremers@uk-erlangen.de