Effects of continuous light on experimental refractive errors in chicks.

Abstract

It is possible to induce ametropias in young chicks either by depriving the developing eye of clear form vision with a translucent goggle or by defocusing the retinal image with convex or concave lenses. The refractive properties of the developing chick eye are also altered by raising young birds in a continuous light environment. The effects of superimposing form deprivation or defocus treatments on chicks raised in continuous light are unclear. Newly hatched (n = 31) chicks were raised for 2 weeks under continuous light while wearing either translucent goggles or + 10 or -10 diopter (D) lenses over one eye. Refractive states, corneal curvature and intraocular dimensions were measured periodically by retinoscopy, keratometry and A-scan ultrasound. The birds were sacrificed after 2 weeks and the eyes removed and measured with calipers. Under continuous light, all eyes treated with translucent goggle and -10 D lens developed moderate myopia (-2.6 +/- 0.5 D and -1.4 +/- 0.3 D, respectively) by day 4. The eyes treated with a + 10 D lens developed moderate hyperopia (+ 4.8 +/- 0.5 D) at day 4. Corneal curvatures of all treated eyes were slightly, but significantly, larger than contralateral control eyes by day 4. After 2 weeks of goggle or lens application, all the treated eyes were hyperopic due to corneal flattening. But the eyes treated with a goggle or a -10 D lens still showed relative myopia compared to the fellow eyes (treated minus untreated = -3.8 +/- 0.4 D and -2.8 +/- 0.4 D, respectively), and the eyes treated with a + 10 D lens showed more hyperopia than fellow eyes (treated minus untreated = + 5.1 +/- 0.6 D). Compared with the control eyes, the axial length (mainly vitreous chamber depth) was slightly, but significantly, increased in the eyes treated with a goggle or a -10 D lens, and the axial length decreased slightly in the eyes treated with + 10 D lens. The results suggest that form deprivation and retinal defocus (induced by +/- 10 D lenses) could still induce experimental refractive errors (myopia and hyperopia) in chicks kept under continuous light, but the effects of form deprivation and retinal defocus were partially suppressed by continuous light.