Changes of central visual receptive fields in experimental glaucoma.

Retinal ganglion cell apoptotic death in experimental glaucoma is protracted over several months and it leads to the visual dysfunction. In the rat with increased intraocular pressure (IOP), the lack of visual scotoma was observed where visual field was determined electrophysiologically on the contralateral optic tectum in the early stages of the disease. Increases in the sizes of receptive fields on the periphery represented early stage of glaucomatous dysfunction. The relationship of duration and magnitude of IOP elevation had a significant correlation between percentages of receptive field sizes in the tectum. Large increases in receptive field sizes noted in the glaucomatous retinal terminal areas suggest the ability of the remaining retinal axons to compete and compensate for the loss of retinal axons. This compensatory adaptation leads to the degradation of the visual acuity and visual thresholds when measured psychophysically.