Nasopharyngeal recordings separate retinal from optic nerve potentials.

Abstract

Electrical potentials in response to single flashes and to pattern-reversal stimuli presented in Maxwellian view were recorded from several intranasal locations by withdrawing a nasopharyngeal electrode from the epipharynx through the nose in steps of 1 cm. From the anterior parts of the nose a waveform could be obtained resembling the corneal electroretinogram. In the epipharynx an ERG was recorded which was inverted in polarity. This reversal in polarity was explained by assuming an electrical dipole of the retina oriented parallel to the electrode path. When the electrode was below and behind the posterior pole of the eye ball a high-frequency activity of increased amplitude was observed the origin of which could not be explained by the retinal dipole. It is suggested that these increased oscillations originate from the optic nerve. Their behavior is explained by a hypothetical electrical dipole of the optic nerve oriented vertical to the electrode path.