Recovery of photopic ERG from pressure-induced retinal ischemia in rabbit eyes

Using precise experimental methods, we evaluated the recovery from pressure-induced ischemia in rabbit retina using photopic electroretinography (ERG). The recovery was evaluated and documented in terms of the increasing amplitude and the decreasing delay of implicit time in the photopic ERG after inducing 30-, 60- and 90-minute ischemia. A ganzfeld dome was utilized to stimulate both the experimental and the control fellow eye. The changes in ERG parameters in the ischemic eye were assessed by comparison with the values simultaneously obtained in the fellow eye, which could minimize the effect of anesthesia. One hour after reperfusion, the implicit time returned to almost the same value as that in the fellow eye in eyes with 30-minute ischemia, while it showed significant delay in eyes with 60-minute ischemia. The amplitude was smaller than that in the fellow eye in eyes with both 30- and 60-minute ischemia. Photopic ERG was not recorded one hour after reperfusion in more than half the eyes with 90-minute ischemia.