ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL FINDINGS STRONGLY SUGGEST THE FUNCTIONAL NETWORK REMODELING IN THE RETINAL DETACHMENT MOUSE MODEL

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) is a major cause of severe vision loss. However, visual symptoms such as metamorphopsia and blurring may persist even after successful surgery, suggesting a functional change in the retinal network. Therefore, we investigated retinal network changes associated with RRD. RD was induced in C57BL/6J mice, and eyes were enucleated on post-RD days 1, 3, 7, and 14. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and H&E staining verified successful RD and cellular changes. OCT confirmed persistent RD to day 14. H&E staining showed increased neurosensory retinal thickness at RD day 3 (p < 0.05), whereas decreased thickness at RD day 7 and 14 (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Ex-vivo retinal activities were recorded using an 8 × 8 multi-electrode array. Network changes were evaluated using the cross-correlation index (CCI) of spike pairs between retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the power spectral density (PSD) of local field potentials (LFPs). In RD retinas, ON-type RGC pairs exhibited significantly elevated CCI at post-RD day 7 and 14 compared to controls, peaking at post-RD day 14 (p < 0.001). Elevated CCI in RD retinas was blocked with meclofenamic acid, a gap junction blocker. PSD analysis revealed that at post-RD day 14, RGCs exhibiting aberrant 5–10 Hz oscillatory rhythms increased compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, RD induces structural alterations accompanied by functional changes, such as elevated CCI and low-frequency oscillations, indicating network remodeling as a cause of incomplete visual recovery even after successful reattachment.