Thousands of patients including many young children become blind from retinitis pigmentosa and allied diseases. No treatments are known for practically all types. Research is proposed to gain more understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases through assessing the diurnal rhythm in the rod electroretinogram (ERG) as a measure of rod outer segment renewal in patients with different stages and genetic types of these diseases and in normal subjects. In addition, rod ERGs measured at various times of the day will be used to determine whether or not an abnormal diurnal rhythm exists in the miniature French poodle with rod-cone degeneration and in the Royal College of Surgeons rat with hereditary retinal degeneration at various stages of rod degeneration. Results will be compared with observations on the diurnal rhythm of normal French poodles and normal rats. At corresponding times in the diurnal cycle, ERGs from the normal rats and poodles will be compared with histologic observations of outer segment length and of numbers of phagosomes in the pigment epithelium. The natural history of retinal malfunction in the miniature French poodle with rod-cone degeneration will also be monitored with electrophysiological testing; waveforms obtained at different stages will be compared with responses obtained from humans with hereditary retinal diseases. Electroretinographic testing and histologic studies will be done in the isolated cat eye perfused with pharmacologic agents thought to lead to photoreceptor and/or pigment epithelial cell death in hereditary retinal degenerations; attention will be given to whether or not these agents produce abnormal ERGs similar to those seen in human hereditary retinal degenerations. Electroretinographic studies of patients with retinitis pigmentosa will also be done to determine if delays in cone b-waves implicit time under light-adapted conditions, characteristic of progressive forms of these diseases, are secondary to abnormal rod-cone interaction and/or delays in cones a-wave latency. Obligate female carriers of sex-linked choroideremia will be evaluated with the ERG to determine to what extent the ERG can be used to detect carriers of this condition.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY000169-18
Application #
3255165
Study Section
Visual Sciences A Study Section (VISA)
Project Start
1979-06-01
Project End
1992-06-30
Budget Start
1988-07-01
Budget End
1989-06-30
Support Year
18
Fiscal Year
1988
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
082359691
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Potsidis, Emorfily; Berson, Eliot L; Sandberg, Michael A (2011) Disease course of patients with unilateral pigmentary retinopathy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 52:9244-9
Tanackovic, Goranka; Ransijn, Adriana; Thibault, Philippe et al. (2011) PRPF mutations are associated with generalized defects in spliceosome formation and pre-mRNA splicing in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Hum Mol Genet 20:2116-30
Tanackovic, Goranka; Ransijn, Adriana; Ayuso, Carmen et al. (2011) A missense mutation in PRPF6 causes impairment of pre-mRNA splicing and autosomal-dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Am J Hum Genet 88:643-9
Sandberg, Michael A; Johnson, Elizabeth J; Berson, Eliot L (2010) The relationship of macular pigment optical density to serum lutein in retinitis pigmentosa. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 51:1086-91
McGee, Terri L; Seyedahmadi, Babak Jian; Sweeney, Meredith O et al. (2010) Novel mutations in the long isoform of the USH2A gene in patients with Usher syndrome type II or non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa. J Med Genet 47:499-506
den Hollander, Anneke I; McGee, Terri L; Ziviello, Carmela et al. (2009) A homozygous missense mutation in the IRBP gene (RBP3) associated with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 50:1864-72
Rio Frio, Thomas; McGee, Terri L; Wade, Nicholas M et al. (2009) A single-base substitution within an intronic repetitive element causes dominant retinitis pigmentosa with reduced penetrance. Hum Mutat 30:1340-7
Hartong, Dyonne T; McGee, Terri L; Sandberg, Michael A et al. (2009) Search for a correlation between telomere length and severity of retinitis pigmentosa due to the dominant rhodopsin Pro23His mutation. Mol Vis 15:592-7
Sandberg, Michael A; Rosner, Bernard; Weigel-DiFranco, Carol et al. (2008) Disease course in patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa due to the USH2A gene. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 49:5532-9
Hartong, Dyonne T; Dange, Mayura; McGee, Terri L et al. (2008) Insights from retinitis pigmentosa into the roles of isocitrate dehydrogenases in the Krebs cycle. Nat Genet 40:1230-4

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