Contribution of Bipolar Cells of Cone ON and OFF Pathways to Electroretinograms Elicited by Ultraviolet and Middle Wavelength Stimuli

Abstract

ABSTRACTPurpose: To determine the contribution of the ON and OFF cone bipolar cell pathways to the electroretinograms (ERGs) elicited by ultraviolet (UV) and middle wavelength light in mice.Materials and Methods: The experiments were performed on 8- to 10-week-old C57BL/6J mice. The ERGs elicited by single-flash and flickering UV light stimuli were compared to those elicited by green light stimuli under photopic conditions. Pharmacological agents were used to selectively block the ON and OFF pathways contributing to the ERGs. Saline was used as a control. The flicker ERGs elicited by UV light were compared to the ERGs elicited by green light after the injection of the pharmacological agents to determine the contribution of the cone ON and OFF pathways to the ERGs.Results: The photopic single-flash and flicker ERGs were more sensitive to the UV light stimuli than to those elicited by green light stimuli. The flicker ERG responses elicited by both UV and green light stimuli at stimulus frequencies lower than 15-Hz decreased after L-2-amino-4-phosphobutyric acid was injected. The ERGs elicited by UV light at 30-Hz and by green light at frequencies lower than 15-Hz decreased significantly after the intravitreal injection of cis-2, 3-piperidine-dicarboxylic acid. An analysis of the ON and OFF components of the flicker ERGs showed that there might be pharmacological differences between the UV light-sensitive responses and the green light-sensitive responses.Conclusions: These results suggest that the UV light-sensitive cones connect to both the ON and OFF bipolar cells differently than that of the green light-sensitive cones.