Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Shantou University/Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Shantou International Eye Center, Shantou, China.
Exp Eye Res. 2018 Nov;176:46-52. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2018.06.007. Epub 2018 Jun 14.
The aim of this study was to compare the quality of electroretinogram (ERG) recordings using a custom built active electrode with attached amplifier versus a standard (passive) ERG electrode. Scotopic and photopic ERG responses were recorded from five adult albino rabbits using a custom built active electrode on one eye and a passive electrode on the other. For the active electrode, the ERG-jet electrode (Universo S.A., La Chaux-De-Fonds, Switzerland) was used as the transducer with the cable cut short and soldered directly to the input of a customized amplifier. The passive electrode was a standard ERG jet electrode. The signal to noise ratio and reproducibility of ERGs were compared. The noise was significantly lower in the active electrode compared to the passive electrode (p = 0.009) resulting in signals being recorded at lower stimulation strengths with the active electrode. The scotopic a-wave was significantly larger in the active electrode at all supra-threshold stimulation intensities (p < 0.05) and the scotopic b-wave amplitudes were also higher in the active electrode at all supra-threshold stimulation intensities but was only statistically significant between -3.25 and -1 log cd.s.m (p < 0.05). The photopic a- and b-wave amplitudes were also higher in the active electrode and statistically significant between -0.75 and 0.48 log cd.s.m for the a-wave and -1.25 to -1 log cd.s.m for the b-wave (p < 0.05). The intra-observer repeatability, inter-sessions reproducibility and reliability of the signals were better in the active electrode as evidenced by lower coefficient of variation (CV) and coefficient of repeatability (CR) with high intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of the a- and b-wave parameters of the active electrode. These findings suggest that the custom built active ERG electrode produces less noise than the passive electrode, allowing responses to be recorded at lower stimulation strengths. It produces greater signal amplitudes and improved reproducibility and is therefore a better device for investigating retinal function.
本研究旨在比较使用带内置放大器的定制主动电极和标准（被动）视网膜电图（ERG）电极记录的 ERG 质量。使用定制主动电极和标准被动电极分别记录五只成年白化兔的暗适应和明适应 ERG 反应。对于主动电极，使用 ERG-jet 电极（Universo S.A.，La Chaux-De-Fonds，瑞士）作为换能器，将电缆剪断并直接焊接到定制放大器的输入端。被动电极是标准的 ERG 电极。比较了 ERG 的信噪比和可重复性。主动电极的噪声明显低于被动电极（p=0.009），因此使用主动电极可以在更低的刺激强度下记录信号。在所有超阈值刺激强度下，主动电极的暗适应 a 波均显著更大（p<0.05），在所有超阈值刺激强度下，主动电极的暗适应 b 波幅度也更高，但仅在 -3.25 至 -1 log cd.s.m 之间具有统计学意义（p<0.05）。主动电极的明适应 a 波和 b 波幅度也更高，在 -0.75 至 0.48 log cd.s.m 之间具有统计学意义，在 -1.25 至 -1 log cd.s.m 之间具有统计学意义（p<0.05）。主动电极的信号具有更好的观察者内重复性、各次会话间的可重复性和可靠性，表现在较低的变异系数（CV）和可重复性系数（CR）以及较高的明适应 a 波和 b 波参数的组内相关系数（ICC）。这些发现表明，与被动电极相比，定制的主动 ERG 电极产生的噪声更小，允许在更低的刺激强度下记录反应。它产生更大的信号幅度和提高的可重复性，因此是研究视网膜功能的更好设备。
