PHOTORECEPTOR DAMAGE FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO EXCESS RIBOFLAVIN

Flavins generate oxidants during metabolism and when exposed to light( 1). Here we report that the photoreceptor layer of retinas from black- eyed rats is reduced in size by a dietary regime containing excess rib oflavin. The effect of excess riboflavin was dose-dependent and was ma nifested by a decrease in photoreceptor length. This decrease was due in part to a reduction in the thickness of the outer nuclear layer, a structure formed from stacked photoreceptor nuclei. These changes were accompanied by an increase in photoreceptor outer segment autofluores cence following illumination at 328 nm, a wavelength that corresponds to the excitation maxima of oxidized lipopigments of the retinal pigme nt epithelium(2).