Oscillatory potentials of the electroretinogram in patients with unilateral optic atrophy.

The oscillatory potentials (OP) of the electroretinogram (ERG) of 26 patients with unilateral optic atrophy were studied. The severity of optic atrophy was graded according to clinical findings. Three groups of increasing interocular difference in contrast sensitivity and changes of the visual evoked cortical potentials were obtained. No significant difference between the amplitudes or peak latencies of the individual oscillatory peaks or summed amplitudes of the OPs between the affected and control fellows eyes in any group was found. Neither was there any significant interocular differences regarding the a- and b-waves. These findings show that there does not seem to be any major contribution of ganglion cell activity in the generation of the OPs. Secondly, the results do not support the existence of centrifugal optic nerve innervation of the human retina.