Electroretinographic modifications induced by agomelatine: a novel avenue to the understanding of the claimed antidepressant effect of the drug?

Figures & data

Figure 1 The a-wave of the electroretinogram reflects the activity of photoreceptors; the b-wave indicates the activity of the amacrine, horizontal, bipolar, and Müller cells. Implicit time refers to the time occurring between the initiation of the light stimulation (flash) and the peak of a- and b-waves. The a-wave amplitude was measured from baseline to a-wave trough; the b-wave amplitude was measured from a-wave trough to b-wave peak.

Figure 2 Flowchart of study procedures.

Abbreviation: ERG, electroretinogram.

Table 1 Slightly, yet statistically, significant trends of increase of b-wave parameters

	LE			RE
	Baseline value	60 minutes	120 minutes	Baseline value	60 minutes	120 minutes
Amplitude of the cones ± SD
(LE P=0.026; RE P=0.009)*	49.22±18.71	52.30±18.43	55.52±20.95	45.35±18.48	48.65±17.02	51.56±17.22
Cone latency ± SD
(LE P=0.001; RE P=0.001)*	33.83±2.79	34.74±3.67	36.39±3.13	33.52±2.69	34.48±3.33	36.17±3.08

Notes: Modifications that were not statistically significant are omitted (Friedman’s two-way analysis of variance by ranks). REs and LEs were analyzed separately. Amplitude values are in μV (latency in ms). All results were obtained in daylight conditions.

* Provided P-values for the nonparametric test indicated to reject the null hypothesis (of a difference observed by chance); asymptotic significance not reported; significance level set to P=0.05.

Abbreviations: LE, left eye; RE, right eye; SD, standard deviation.