To assess the contribution of spiking inner retinal
neurons to the multifocal electroretinogram (ERG), recordings
were made from four monkeys (Macaca mulatta) before
and after intravitreal injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX).
TTX blocks all sodium-based action potentials and thus
terminates spiking activity of amacrine and ganglion cells.
TTX eliminated a large component from the control responses,
and this TTX-sensitive component was present as early as
10 ms after the stimulus. Before injection with TTX, the
103 focal ERG responses varied in waveform across the retina.
After TTX, the response waveforms were largely independent
of retinal position, indicating that it was primarily the
TTX-sensitive component of the control response that was
dependent upon retinal location. Given that retinal ganglion
cells compose a sizable proportion of the retinal elements
that produce action potentials, it is likely that part
of the TTX-sensitive component is due to the spiking activity
of these cells. Further, the systematic change in waveform
of the TTX-sensitive component with distance from the optic
nerve head suggests that part of the TTX-sensitive component
may originate from the activity of the ganglion cell axons.
Based on these findings, there is reason to be optimistic
that the multifocal technique can be employed to study
the effects of glaucoma and other diseases that affect
the inner retina.