Electroretinographic responses and retrograde changes of retinal morphology after intracranial optic nerve section. A quantitative analysis in the cat.

Previous experiments have shown that the ERG response to alternating gratings vanishes gradually within 4 months after transection of the optic nerve, changes begin after 2-3 weeks. The response to gratings of low spatial frequencies deteriorates earlier than the response to gratings of high spatial frequencies (Maffei and Fiorentini 1981). Quantitative analysis of ganglion cell sizes in retinal wholemounts shows that ganglion cell shrinkage and ganglion cell loss begin at three weeks in the periphery of the retina, particularly in the temporal retina. The same morphological alteration subsequently becomes apparent also in the area centralis and the nasal retina, respectively. The main and early cell loss occurs among medium sized ganglion cells, supposedly the beta-cells. Among the alpha-cells only shrinkage is observed up to two months postoperatively. Light- and electron microscopic examination of cross sections through the retina show that pathological changes are restricted to the innermost layers.