Seeliger M. W.

Retinal Electrodiagnostics Research Group, University of Tuebingen Eye Hospital, Dept. II, Schleichstr. 12, D-72076Tuebingen

The increasing number of knockout (KO) animals has led to a high demand for retinal function tests, which usually involve electroretinography (ERG). However, it is often difficult to determine even basic facts like the degree to which rod and cone systemare affected by the induced genetic defect.We have thus developed a method in which we use known KOmice with a selective, total dysfunction of one of these systems to generate double knockouts (DKOs) with the KO mice of unknown phenotype. Currently, CNG3-/- (cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 3) and Rho-/- (rhodopsin) KO miceserveas suchmodelsof purerodandpureconefunction, respectively. If only the rods were responsible for light responses in the tested KO mice, similar ERGs should be obtained from the single KO and the DKOs with CNG3-/- mice. Alternatively, if only the cone system was involved, ERGs from single KOs should
resemble those of the DKOs with Rho-/- mice. An involvement of both systems would presumably result in a distribution of the respective components between the two models.
The value of this approach to determine the source of vision is demonstrated in RPE65 deficiency on the basis of two DKO mouse lines, one generated by breeding RPE65 KO mice with CNG3-/-, and the other with Rho-/- mice.

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