Retinal Detachment Is Associated With Enhanced Correlated Firing and Oscillatory Activity

Purpose: Metamorphopsia and blurred vision often persist despite anatomically successful retinal detachment (RD) repair. We investigated time-dependent structural and functional alterations in retinal network activity following RD. Methods: RD was induced in adult C57BL/6J mice by trans-scleral subretinal sodium hyaluronate injection. Eyes were collected on post-RD days 1, 3, 7, and 14. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining verified structural changes. Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) activity was recorded using an 8 × 8 multielectrode array (MEA). Network alterations were assessed using the cross-correlation index (CCI) of RGC spike pairs and power spectral density (PSD) and continuous wavelet transform analyses. CCIs were decomposed into narrow (100 ms) correlations to infer the underlying sources of correlated RGC activity and to assess their changes following RD. The gap-junction blocker meclofenamic acid (MFA) was applied to evaluate electrical coupling. Results: RD produced early outer-retinal edema followed by progressive retinal atrophy. Spontaneous RGC activity exhibited enhanced medium-range correlations at post-RD days 7 and 14, peaking at day 14, whereas narrow-timescale spike synchrony was not significantly altered. Log-scale PSD analysis demonstrated increased 5 to 10 hertz (Hz) oscillatory power at later RD stages. MFA reduced both oscillatory power and medium-range correlation. Conclusions: RD is associated with progressive structural changes and altered retinal network activity characterized by enhanced medium-range correlation and low-frequency oscillatory rhythms consistent with involvement of gap-junction-dependent inner retinal circuitry. These findings support the possibility that functional retinal remodeling contributes to persistent visual dysfunction after RD.