Study of retinal dystrophy in RCS rats: a comparison of Mg-ATP dependent light scattering activity and ERG b-wave

A comparative study using the techniques of ERG to measure the b-wave and light scattering relaxation spectrophotometry (LSRS) to determine the dynamic behavior Mg-ATP dependent processes in the rod photoreceptors of pigmented control and dystrophic RCS rats has been carried out. LSRS results, based exclusively on photoreceptor rod outer segment dynamics, suggest a progressive failure in the dark and light-induced Mg-ATP dependent processes as a function of age. The dark signal amplitude in the dystrophic rats decreases to about 50% of the control by 5 weeks post-natal; the light-induced signal has decreased by 30% in the same period. The ERG b-wave results indicate that the differences in the amplitude and the time required to attain the peak amplitude become increasingly pronounced between the control and dystrophic groups of rats again as a function of age. By 10 weeks of age, the intensity of light required to obtain a b-wave with a amplitude of 100 microM is 10(3) greater in the dystrophic RCS rats. Similarly, the time to achieve this peak increases in the dystrophs with age. These results indicate that the retinal dystrophy in the RCS rat affects the activity of the rod photoreceptor cells.