Effects of normal aging on the mouse retina assessed by full-field flash and flicker electroretinography

Abstract

Changes in the full-field flash and flicker electroretinogram (ERG) that accompany normal aging were evaluated in mice. ERGs were recorded from a single cohort of C57BL/6J mice from 5 to 70 weeks of age using conventional techniques. Dark-adapted ERGs were recorded for flash luminances of − 3.0 to 1.5 log cd-s-m−2; a- and b-wave amplitude and implicit time (IT) were calculated from these responses. In addition, light-adapted flicker ERGs elicited by sinusoidally modulated light were measured for temporal frequencies of 2 to 31 Hz. Amplitudes and phases were extracted from the flicker responses using Fourier analysis. Linear quantile mixed models were used for statistical comparisons of the effects of age on amplitude and timing. There was a significant decrease in a-wave amplitude (p < 0.001) and b-wave amplitude (p < 0.001) over the 65 week study. From 5 to 70 weeks, the a- and b-wave amplitudes decreased by a factor of approximately 2. There was a small (2–14 ms), but significant (p < 0.001), delay in a- and b-wave IT over the 65 week study. There was also a significant decrease in fundamental amplitude (factor of 1.8, p < 0.001) and second harmonic amplitude (factor of 1.5, p < 0.001) over time. There were no significant age-related effects on the phase of these components (both p > 0.06). These results indicate that age scales the single flash and flicker ERG similarly, reducing response amplitude by a factor of approximately 2, from 5 to 70 weeks, with small or no effect on response timing. These data may be useful for guiding future longitudinal pre-clinical therapeutic studies.