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Slope between positive and negative ERG components in patients with open-angle glaucoma

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate ERG morphology, in particular the slope between P50 and N95 components of the PERG, as well as between the b-wave and the photopic negative response (PhNR) of the light-adapted (LA) ERG in patients with retinal ganglion cell (RGC) dysfunction due to open-angle glaucoma.

Methods

The PERG and LA-ERG traces of 16 glaucoma patients and 21 age-similar controls were retrospectively analysed. The ERG signal between the peak of the positive component (P50 and b-wave) towards the negative component (N95 and PhNR) was described by a linear regression y = a + bx, where the parameter b indicated the steepness of the P50-N95 and b-PhNR slope.

Results

The P50-N95 slope was less steep in glaucoma patients (−0.079 ± 0.034 vs. −0.166 ± 0.050 in controls, p < 0.001), while the b-PhNR slope was not affected (−4.2 ± 2.1 vs. −4.4 ± 1.2, p = NS). The P50-N95 slope showed strong correlation with PhNR and N95 amplitude (r = −0.68 and −0.92, respectively; p < 0.001), while the b-PhNR slope correlated only with b-wave amplitude (r = −0.66, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The P50-N95 slope is a sensitive indicator of RGC dysfunction in patients with open-angle glaucoma. A similar component of LA-ERG, the b-PhNR slope, is less affected by glaucomatous RGC dysfunction and probably originates from similar retinal mechanisms as the b-wave.

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Funding

The study was done within the framework of research program P3-0333 of Slovenian Research Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Grabloviceva 46, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Maja Sustar Habjan & Barbara Cvenkel

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Barbara Cvenkel

Authors
  1. Maja Sustar Habjan
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  2. Barbara Cvenkel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maja Sustar Habjan.

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Conflict of interest

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or nonfinancial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Statement of human rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Statement on the welfare of animals

This research did not involve any animal subjects.

Ethical approval

This research received approval from the Slovenian National Medical Ethics Committee for both the first phase of the study, in which participants were prospectively enrolled [20], and the second phase which involved retrospective analysis of the ERG slopes only (No. 0120–53/2022/4). For the prospective part of the study, formal informed consent was obtained from each subject.

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Sustar Habjan, M., Cvenkel, B. Slope between positive and negative ERG components in patients with open-angle glaucoma. Doc Ophthalmol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10633-024-09972-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10633-024-09972-z

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