Thomas Biju B, Samant Deedar M, Seiler Magdalene J, Aramant Robert B, Sheikholeslami Sharzad, Zhang Kevin, Chen Zhenhai, Sadda SriniVas R
Department of Ophthalmology, Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 May 15;162(1-2):84-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.12.010. Epub 2006 Dec 28.
A visual discrimination apparatus was developed to evaluate the visual sensitivity of normal pigmented rats (n=13) and S334ter-line-3 retinal degenerate (RD) rats (n=15). The apparatus is a modified Y maze consisting of two chambers leading to the rats' home cage. Rats were trained to find a one-way exit door leading into their home cage, based on distinguishing between two different visual alternatives (either a dark background or black and white stripes at varying luminance levels) which were randomly displayed on the back of each chamber. Within 2 weeks of training, all rats were able to distinguish between these two visual patterns. The discrimination threshold of normal pigmented rats was a luminance level of -5.37+/-0.05 log cd/m(2); whereas the threshold level of 100-day-old RD rats was -1.14+/-0.09 log cd/m(2) with considerable variability in performance. When tested at a later age (about 150 days), the threshold level of RD rats was significantly increased (-0.82+/-0.09 log cd/m(2), p<0.03, paired t-test). This apparatus could be useful to train rats at a very early age to distinguish between two different visual stimuli and may be effective for visual functional evaluations following therapeutic interventions.
开发了一种视觉辨别装置，用于评估正常色素大鼠（n = 13）和S334ter-3系视网膜退化（RD）大鼠（n = 15）的视觉敏感性。该装置是一个经过改良的Y型迷宫，由两个通向大鼠家笼的腔室组成。大鼠经过训练，根据区分随机显示在每个腔室背面的两种不同视觉选择（暗背景或不同亮度水平的黑白条纹）来找到通向其家笼的单向出口门。在训练的2周内，所有大鼠都能够区分这两种视觉模式。正常色素大鼠的辨别阈值为-5.37±0.05 log cd/m²的亮度水平；而100日龄RD大鼠的阈值水平为-1.14±0.09 log cd/m²，表现存在相当大的变异性。在稍后的年龄（约150天）进行测试时，RD大鼠的阈值水平显著升高（-0.82±0.09 log cd/m²，p<0.03，配对t检验）。该装置可能有助于在大鼠非常小的时候训练它们区分两种不同的视觉刺激，并且可能对治疗干预后的视觉功能评估有效。
