Functional recovery of retina after sodium iodate injection in mice.

ERGs and the azide responses were recorded from mice before and periodically up to 6 weeks after retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) damage by iodate injection to follow the recovery of retinal pigment epithelium and retinal function. At 14 days postinjection, there was a partial recovery of the maximal b-wave amplitude and the azide response but no further recovery was found after 14 days. The retinal sensitivity showed a slow recovery, and at 6 weeks postinjection did not differ from the pre-iodate sensitivity. These findings correlated with histological observations. We concluded that the recovery in ERGs resulted from RPE recovery and the large patchy area of recovered retina functioned normally.