Flicker detection in the albino rat following light-induced retinal damage

Abstract

The effect of light-induced retinal damage on the behaving rat's critical flicker-fusion frequency (CFF) was studied by determining the CFF at scotopic and photopic luminances both before and after exposure to damaging light. The CFF was reduced but not abolished following damaging light exposure. The shapes of the functions relating CFF to luminance before and after exposure suggested that scotopic visual function may have survived the light damage better than did photopic function. Anatomical and biochemical measures of retinal damage indicated that 91–93% of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) and 99% of the rodopsin had been lost.