Delayed luminance and chromatic contrast sensitivity in infants with spontaneously regressed retinopathy of prematurity

Abstract

The current study assessed whether contrast sensitivity is affected in preterm infants with a history of spontaneously regressed retinopathy of prematurity (ROP, Stages 1-3). Specifically, we employed luminance (light/dark) and chromatic (red/green) stimuli, which are mediated by the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) subcortical pathways, respectively. Contrast sensitivity (CS) was measured using forced-choice preferential looking testing in 21 infants with a history of ROP and 41 control preterm infants who were born prematurely but did not develop ROP, tested between 8 and 47weeks (2-11months) postterm age. Infants were presented with chromatic and luminance drifting sinusoidal gratings, which appeared randomly on the left or right side of the monitor in each trial. The contrast of the stimuli varied across trials and was defined in terms of root mean squared cone contrast for long- and medium-wavelength cones. Between 8 and 25weeks postterm, ROP infants had significantly worse CS, and there was a trend for greater impairment for luminance than chromatic CS. This delay was not seen at older ages between 26 and 47weeks postterm. These findings are consistent with the concept that early maturation of the M pathway is vulnerable to biological insult, as in the case of ROP, to a greater extent than in the P pathway.