Altered retinal function and structure after chronic placental insufficiency

Abstract

PURPOSE. To consider whether growth restriction secondary to chronic placental insufficiency results in postnatal deficits in retinal structure and function. METHODS. Chronic placental insufficiency was induced just before midgestation in guinea pigs through unilateral ligation of the uterine artery. Eight weeks after birth, electroretinograms were recorded from prenatally compromised (PC, n = 6) and control (n = 15) animals. Data were collected for b-wave amplitude and implicit time, also the modeled receptoral (P3) response and oscillatory potentials were extracted. After electroretinography, retinas were prepared for structural analysis (PC, n = 6; control, n = 7). A separate cohort of PC..