PubMed ID: 17050280
Author(s): Maertz NA, Kim CB, Nork TM, Levin LA, Lucarelli MJ, Kaufman PL, Ver Hoeve JN. Multifocal visual evoked potentials in the anesthetized non-human primate. Curr Eye Res. 2006 Oct;31(10):885-93. PMID 17050280
Journal: Current Eye Research, Volume 31, Issue 10, Oct 2006
PURPOSE To evaluate monkey multifocal visual evoked cortical potentials (mfVEPs) recorded from central and peripheral fields for reliability and isolation from electroretinographic (ERG) activity.
METHODS The mfVEP stimulus consisted of a 7-element hexagonal array that subtended 80 degrees of the central visual field. Recordings were made under intravenous pentobarbital sodium (15 mg/kg) anesthesia. Two monkeys with absent optic nerve and ganglion cell function after combined unilateral optic nerve transection and experimental ocular hypertension (ONT/OHT) were followed longitudinally. In a second study, 16 ophthalmologically normal monkeys were tested once.
RESULTS Testing of the non-transected eye in two transected animals revealed robust first- and second-order kernel, first slice (K1 and K2.1) mfVEPs. Stimulation of the transected eye revealed no contamination of the mfVEP from the concurrently recorded multifocal ERGs. There was complete separation of the root-mean-square (RMS) mfVEP amplitudes from the transected and the fellow eyes tested repeatedly across a 4- to 17- month period. The largest amplitude mfVEP was generated by the central element; however, mfVEPs were recorded from outside the central 20 degrees element. The 16 normal animals showed waveforms similar to the normal eyes of the ONT/OHT animals both in shape and distribution throughout the visual field. A scalar-product measure showed both K1 and K2.1 mfVEPs from central and some peripheral elements were statistically distinct from noise.
CONCLUSIONS mfVEPs can be reliably recorded from non-human primates anesthetized with pentobarbital. Under the recording conditions described, mfVEPs are not contaminated by ERG activity. mfVEPs may be useful in animal models of diseases that differentially affect macular and peripheral visual field responsiveness.