Origin of the electroretinogram in the intact macaque eye--I. Principal component analysis

Responses to 400 msec flashes of white light were recorded at various depths in the retina of the intact macaque eye. A statistical technique, principal component analysis (PCA), was used to isolate independent components from the LERG, using the changing contribution of a cell's response to the LERG with retinal depth. Two approaches were evaluated: first, PCA was performed on the complete LERG waveforms and, second, on small sections of the LERG. The first method yielded a component strongly resembling the receptor response, apart from some inconsistencies in the proximal layers, and a component in which the b-wave was the most prominent feature, but which still contained some other responses. Hence, the components were not suitable to describe the LERG in terms of responses of specific cell types. The second method uses PCA to determine whether or not the potential change within a small time window is accounted for by a single component. This method, which essentially uses the knowledge that different cell types respond with different delay times, yielded three components. These were identified as the receptor component, the b-wave and the d.c.-component. The voltage-depth profiles of these components were assessed.