Hyperactivity preferentially disrupts scotopic retinal circuits in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy

Hyperactivity in diabetic mouse retinas preferentially disrupts scotopic retinal circuits early in disease, linked to swollen rod bipolar terminals and reduced scotopic ganglion contrast sensitivity.

• Why it matters: Visual loss in diabetic retinopathy reflects retinal neurovascular dysfunction, but which retinal circuits fail first and how they malfunction is unclear.
• What they did: In mouse models of diabetes, the authors combined immunohistochemistry, behavioral testing, and electrophysiology to compare scotopic versus photopic circuit function, then induced hyperactivity in control retinas.
• The result: Early impairments were not tied to widespread retinal degeneration; instead, rod bipolar cells showed higher intrinsic activity, swollen axon terminals, increased oxidative stress, and scotopic ganglion contrast sensitivity and behavioral scotopic sensitivity declined earlier than photopic.

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