Modification of ocular defects in mouse developmental glaucoma models by tyrosinase.
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Mutations in the cytochrome P450 family 1, subfamily B, polypeptide 1 (CYP1B1) gene are a common cause of human primary congenital glaucoma (PCG). Here we show that Cyp1b1-/- mice have ocular drainage structure abnormalities resembling those reported in human PCG patients. Using Cyp1b1-/- mice, we identified the tyrosinase gene (Tyr) as a modifier of the drainage structure phenotype, with Tyr deficiency increasing the magnitude of dysgenesis. The severe dysgenesis in eyes lacking both CYP1B1 and TYR was alleviated by administration of the tyrosinase product dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-dopa). Tyr also modified the drainage structure dysgenesis in mice with a mutant Foxc1 gene, which is also involved in PCG. These experiments raise the possibility that a tyrosinase/l-dopa pathway modifies human PCG, which could open new therapeutic avenues. (+info)
Visual field defects in albino ferrets (Mustela putorius furo).
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The extent of the horizontal visual field was determined behaviourally in 4 pigmented and 5 albino ferrets (Mustela putorius furo, Carnivora, Mammalia) using perimetry. During binocular vision, all pigmented and three albino ferrets responded equally well to stimuli presented anywhere along the horizontal perimeter in the central 180 degrees of the visual field. The remaining two albinos had a visual field defect in the right hemifield (>30 degrees eccentricity). During monocular vision, a significant difference between the visual fields of pigmented and albino ferrets became apparent. In pigmented ferrets, the visual field of each eye included the ipsilateral (temporal) and a substantial portion of the contralateral (nasal) hemifield. In albinos, the visual field of each eye was limited to the ipsilateral hemifield and reactions to visual stimuli abruptly declined directly beyond the vertical meridian. (+info)
The clinical features of albinism and their correlation with visual evoked potentials.
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AIM: To investigate the relation between the clinical and electrophysiological abnormalities of patients undergoing visual evoked potential investigation for albinism. METHODS: 40 subjects with a probable or possible clinical diagnosis of albinism underwent pattern appearance and/or flash visual evoked potential (VEP) examination. The VEP findings are correlated with the clinical features of albinism determined by clinical examination and orthoptic assessment. RESULTS: The majority of patients with clinical evidence of albinism showed a contralateral predominance in the VEPs. There was close correlation between the clinical signs of albinism and the degree of contralateral VEP predominance. This manifested as an interhemispheric latency asymmetry to monocular pattern appearance stimulation but amplitude asymmetry to flash stimulation. The strongest correlation for pattern appearance interhemispheric latency difference was with foveal hypoplasia (rho = 0.58; p = 0.0003) followed by nystagmus (rho = 0.48; p = 0.0027) and iris transillumination (rho = 0.33; p = 0.039). The VEP abnormalities were of greater magnitude in those patients with most features of albinism. Several patients with apparently mild disorders of ocular pigmentation had small but significantly abnormal VEP latency asymmetries. CONCLUSION: There is a strong association between the magnitude of the interhemispheric latency asymmetry of the pattern appearance VEP, and of amplitude asymmetry of the flash VEP, with the clinical signs of albinism. The data are consistent with a spectrum of abnormalities in albinism involving both clinical expression and electrophysiological misrouting, which is wider than previously recognised. (+info)
Genetic mapping of X linked ocular albinism: linkage analysis in British families.
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Genetic linkage studies were performed in 16 British families affected by X linked ocular albinism (XLOA) using RFLPs from the Xp22.3 region. Linkage was confirmed between the XLOA locus (OA1) and the loci DXS143 (dic56; Zmax = 15.90 at theta = 0.0, confidence interval (CI) 0-0.035), DXS85 (782; Zmax = 15.67 at theta = 0.04, CI = 0.007-0.11), and DXS237 (GMGX9; Zmax = 12.65 at theta = 0.08, CI = 0.03-0.17). Multipoint linkage analysis placed OA1 between DXS85 (782) and DXS237 (GMGX9) with odds exceeding 10(4):1 to give the map DXS85-(OA1,DXS143)-DXS237-XG-Xpter. OA1 lies close to DXS143 (dic56) but in the absence of recombinants the order of these loci could not be determined. (+info)
New method for detecting misrouted retinofugal fibers in humans with albinism by magnetoencephalography.
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In humans with albinism, a large percentage of the ganglion cell axons from the temporal retina decussate abnormally in the chiasm and synapse in the contralateral LGN. The aim of this study was to determine whether the misrouting of the optic fibers can be detected by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Visually evoked magnetic fields (VEFs) were recorded from three patients with albinism. After monocular stimulation, the isofield contour maps of the VEFs showed a single current dipole pattern over the contralateral hemisphere in patients with albinism. These results clearly illustrated the reduced uncrossed retinofugal pathway of patients with albinism. (+info)
From candelas to photoisomerizations in the mouse eye by rhodopsin bleaching in situ and the light-rearing dependence of the major components of the mouse ERG.
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To quantify the rate at which light in a ganzfeld produces photoisomerizations in mouse rods in situ, we measured the rate of rhodopsin bleaching in eyes of recently euthanized mice with fully dilated pupils. The amount of rhodopsin declined as a first-order (exponential) function of the duration of the exposure at the luminance of 920 scot cd m(-2): the rate constants of bleaching were 8.3 x 10(-6) and 2.8 x 10(-5) s(-1) (scot cd(-1)m2)(-1) for C57B1/6 and 129P3/J mice, respectively. When the approximately 3-fold difference in effective areas of the pupils of the mice are taken into consideration, the bleaching rates for both strains become essentially the same, 2.6 x 10(-6) fraction rhodopsin (scot Td s)(-1). Assuming 7 x 10(7) rhodopsin molecules per rod, this bleaching rate yields the result that a flash of 1 scot Td s produces 181 photoisomerizations per rod, a value close to that derived from analysis of the collecting area of the rod for axially propagating light. We measured the electroretinograms of mice of the two strains reared under controlled illumination conditions (2 and 100 lux), and compared their properties, using the calibrations to determine the absolute sensitivities of the b-wave and a-waves. The intensity that produces a half-saturating rod b-wave response is 0.3-0.6 photoisomerizations rod(-1), and the amplification constant of the rod a-wave is 5-6 s(-2) photoisomerization(-1), with little dependence on the strain. (+info)
Abnormal crossing of the optic fibres shown by evoked magnetic fields in patients with ocular albinism with a novel mutation in the OA1 gene.
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AIM: To perform genealogical and clinical studies in Finnish families with X linked ocular albinism (OA1), including characterisation of the potential misrouting of optic fibres by evaluating visual evoked magnetic fields (VEFs), and to determine the mutation behind the disease. METHODS: Three families with OA1 were clinically examined. VEFs were measured in two affected males and in one female carrier to characterise the cortical activation pattern after monocular visual stimulation. The neuronal sources of the VEFs were modelled with equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) in a spherical head model. All coding exons of the OA1 gene were screened for mutations by single strand conformation analysis and direct polymerase chain reaction sequencing. RESULTS: Genealogical studies revealed that the three families were all related. The affected males had foveal hypoplasia with reduced visual acuity varying from 20/200 to 20/50, variable nystagmus, iris transillumination, and hypopigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium. The ECD locations corresponding to the VEFs revealed abnormal crossing of the optic fibres in both affected males, but not in the carrier female. A novel point mutation, leading to a STOP codon, was identified in the fifth exon of the OA1 gene. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that the novel mutation 640C>T in the OA1 gene is the primary cause of the eye disease in the family studied. VEFs with ECD analysis was successfully used to demonstrate abnormal crossing of the optic fibres. (+info)
Sensitivity to temporal luminance modulation in congenital nystagmus.
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Uniform field temporal contrast sensitivity functions were compared for 10 subjects with congenital nystagmus (seven idiopathic, three with albinism) and 10 normal observers. Sensitivity to luminance modulation did not differ significantly from normal at any temporal frequency tested except 0.5 Hz, at which the subjects with nystagmus had slightly higher sensitivity. In conjunction with other recent findings, their essentially normal temporal contrast sensitivity suggests that persons with nystagmus process retinal information continuously, rather than selectively during only only one phase of the nystagmus. (+info)