Retinal Detachment Is Associated With Enhanced Correlated Firing and Oscillatory Activity

Metamorphopsia and blurred vision often persist despite anatomically successful retinal detachment (RD) repair. We investigated time-dependent structural and functional alterations in retinal network activity following RD.

RD was induced in adult C57BL/6J mice by trans-scleral subretinal sodium hyaluronate injection. Eyes were collected on post-RD days 1, 3, 7, and 14. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining verified structural changes. Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) activity was recorded using an 8 × 8 multielectrode array (MEA). Network alterations were assessed using the cross-correlation index (CCI) of RGC spike pairs and power spectral density (PSD) and continuous wavelet transform analyses. CCIs were decomposed into narrow (<10 ms), medium (10-50 ms), and broad (>100 ms) correlations to infer the underlying sources of correlated RGC activity and to assess their changes following RD. The gap-junction blocker meclofenamic acid (MFA) was applied to evaluate electrical coupling.

RD produced early outer-retinal edema followed by progressive retinal atrophy. Spontaneous RGC activity exhibited enhanced medium-range correlations at post-RD days 7 and 14, peaking at day 14, whereas narrow-timescale spike synchrony was not significantly altered. Log-scale PSD analysis demonstrated increased 5 to 10 hertz (Hz) oscillatory power at later RD stages. MFA reduced both oscillatory power and medium-range correlation.

RD is associated with progressive structural changes and altered retinal network activity characterized by enhanced medium-range correlation and low-frequency oscillatory rhythms consistent with involvement of gap-junction-dependent inner retinal circuitry. These findings support the possibility that functional retinal remodeling contributes to persistent visual dysfunction after RD.