Visual acuity and foveal cone density in the retina of the aged rhesus monkey

Abstract

The specific aims of this study were to examine age differences in visual acuity among young adult (5 years), middle aged (12 years) and aged (22 years) rhesus monkeys in relation to foveal cone density in the diurnal duplex retina. Classically, acuity has been defined as the reciprocal of the least resolvable detail measured in minutes of visual angle. The minimum separable binocular acuity mean of the young adult group was 0.83 ± 0.11, middle age acuity mean was 0.86 ± 0.12, and the acuity mean of the aged monkeys was 2.0 – 0.70 minutes of visual angle. According to analysis of variance and multiple range tests for specific group means, the 0.83' acuity m mean of the young, and the 0.86' acuity mean of the middle age group did not differ significantly, whereas the 2.0' acuity mean of the old group differed significantly from the 2 younger age groups. Foveal cone density was determined morphometrically by assesmeent of cone inner segment width, and absolute cone inner segment number per 100 Am along the horizontal meridian of the pure cone, rod free 1° × 1° foveola. Foveal cone density decreased significantly from 44.16 per 100 Am in the middle age group to 39.00 per 100 Am in the old macaque group. Since the diurnal macaque is of the same taxonomic order as man, and the visual systems of the two species are directly comparable in terms of ac acuity and the central receptive field organization of the retino-geniculo-striate system, it may be concluded that the macaque may represent an attractive and valid model for studies of aging in photopic and scotopic vision of diurnal primates, including man.