Eye movement abnormalities in rod monochromacy.

Eye movements were studied quantitatively using electro-oculography in seven patients with rod monochromacy. Attention was given to eye movement abnormalities that could help to differentiate rod monochromacy from other forms of congenital nystagmus. Horizontal nystagmus in center gaze had pendular and jerk waveforms with much lower amplitude than that in patients with other forms of congenital nystagmus and visual acuity of 20/200-20/400. Slow build-up of slow component velocity over many seconds and directional asymmetry of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) were observed during monocular optokinetic stimulation. The directional asymmetry of OKN was characterized by a higher OKN gain (eye velocity/OKN drum velocity) during rotation of the OKN drum in the temporal-to-nasal direction in the visual field, than that during drum rotation in the nasal-to temporal direction. Similar directional asymmetry and slow build-up are found in afoveate animals, such as the rabbit, during monocular optokinetic stimulation, but are not found in normal human subjects or in patients with other forms of congenital nystagmus.