Changes in retinal neurons in the guinea pig retina stimulated by strobe lights during development

Abstract

The modern-day population is overexposed to visual stimuli accompanied by contrast and strength changes, such as the television or videogames, beginning early in life. These light stimuli may have an influence on the development of the visual system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of light stimuli on retinal development. We reared guinea pigs under a daily 12-h strobe light (2. Hz)/dark cycle from birth, while control animals were reared under a 12-h light/dark cycle. The animals were sacrificed 1, 2, and 4 weeks after birth. The thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness decreased by 14.8% in the strobe-reared animals compared to the control group at 4 weeks, but not at 1 and 2 weeks. The Müller cells of the strobe-reared animals showed a stouter branch compared to that of the control animals at 2 and 4 weeks. In the strobe-reared model, axon-like processes emerging from the rod bipolar cell bodies were observed in the outer plexiform layer (OPL). These findings show that strobe-light stimuli induce morphological changes in retinal neurons, which may lead to the disturbance of normal visual processing during development. © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.