Effect of visual stimulation on blood oxygenation in the optic nerve head of miniature pigs: a pilot study

Visual stimulation is increasingly used to investigate the coupling between neuronal activity, blood flow and metabolism in the neural tissue of the ocular fundus. In an attempt to clarify whether the oxygen metabolism is involved in this coupling, we investigated the changes in the partial pressure of oxygen of venous blood (pO (2,blood)) in the optic nerve head of pigs in response to two different visual stimuli.

In 3 miniature pigs, the pO (2,blood) was measured in the optic disk rim using the technique of phosphorescence quenching by oxygen. This parameter was recorded every 8 seconds during a dark-to-light transition and during diffuse luminance flicker (field of 30 degrees centered at the optic disk, temporal frequencies of 2 to 80 Hz).

The venous pO (2,blood) level (mean +/- standard deviation) did not change between dark- and light-adapted conditions (26.2 +/- 5.3 and 26.0 +/- 6.2 mm Hg, respectively), nor did we observe any transient change of pO (2,blood) during the light adaptation phase. On the other hand, the venous pO (2,blood) increased, on average, relative to its level during continuous light conditions (24.5 +/- 1.9 mm Hg) by at least 6 % for all flickering frequencies, with a maximum response of 14 % at 15 Hz.

The phosphorescence quenching technique can reveal changes in venous pO (2,blood) induced by visual stimulation. Our results show that the pO (2,blood) in the optic nerve head of miniature pigs does not change with the light adaptation state of the retina, but increases during flicker stimulation with a band-pass type response. The previously reported increase of the ONH blood flow in response to flicker stimulation could lead to this increase of pO (2,blood).