Light induced oscillations of the standing potential in achromatopsia

In three children with achromatopsia light-induced oscillations of the standing potential and electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded. A low drift direct current recording system was applied to monitor the changes of the standing potential under general anesthesia. In all children the scotopic ERG components were normal. No photopic components could be observed. The fast oscillations of the standing potential were normal under scotopic and photopic conditions. The light-induced slow increase of the standing potential displayed low amplitudes and normal peak latencies. The results of our study support earlier investigations suggesting that cone-mediated mechanisms in the retina contribute a significant component to the amplitude of the light peak in the electroretinogram.