Recording the photopic electroretinogram from conscious adult Yucatan micropigs

The micropig is viewed by many as one of the best animal models of human sy stem physiology. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, rapid a nd reliable method to record clinical electroretinograms from conscious adu lt Yucatan micropigs. Photopic ERGs were recorded from 18 conscious animals following a 3-h period of preadaptation to a moderate photopic environment . Rectal temperature and blood pressure were monitored throughout the exper iment. In order to test the reproducibility of our procedure, the same prot ocol was repeated (n=6 micropigs) on three different recording sessions eac h separated by a 48-h period. Our results indicate that the recording of re producible ERGs, in the conscious Yucatan micropig, is feasible provided th at an adequate experimental approach is used. We believe that our method wi ll enable investigators to perform retinal physiology experiments using an approach which is compatible with that used in a human clinical setup thus facilitating the transposition of experimental data from animal to human.