Photoreceptor type-specific electroretinography in inherited retinal disorders

Over the last decade, there has been renewed interest in human retinal electrophysiology as a technique for studying both the normal human retina as well as how retinal function is affected by disease. The electrical trace recorded as an electroretinogram (ERG) is initiated by light absorption in the (rod and cone) photoreceptors that subsequently activates post-receptoral pathways. It has been difficult to separately investigate ERG signals that are driven by one of the three different cone photoreceptor subtypes, or to distinguish ERG activity derived from separate post-receptoral rod pathways. In this book, new methodological approaches are presented to overcome these difficulties. The selected studies reported herein use novel ERG techniques that have advanced our understanding of both retinal physiology and pathophysiology and should ultimately help to develop better diagnostic tools.

Autorentext
Hendrik P. N. Scholl was born in 1969 in Mainz, Germany. He received a medical degree and a master degree in philosophy both at the University of Tübingen in 1997. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University Eye Hospital, Tübingen and undertook a clinical research fellowship at the Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He received his Habilitation from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tübingen in 2003. In 2004 he was awarded a Heisenberg Fellowship by the German Research Foundation. He is currently a consultant ophthalmologist at the University of Bonn.