Features of fixation eye movements in children with progressive myopia: a potential practical importance
D.I. KOSHELEV, G.N. REZBAEVA, I.V. SIROTKINA
All-Russian Eye and Plastic Surgery Centre of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, 67/1 Zorge Str., Ufa, Russian Federation, 450075
Koshelev D.I. — Cand. Biol. Sc., Associate Professor, Head of the Neurophysiology of Vision Laboratory, tel. (347) 293-42-11, e-mail: koshelev_d@mail.ru
Rezbaeva G.N. — Head of Children’s Consultative Department, tel. (347) 293-42-19, e-mail: centre@alloplant.ru
Sirotkina I.V. — researcher of the Neurophysiology Laboratory, tel. (347) 293-42-11, e-mail: centre@alloplant.ru
The fixation microsaccades of 79 patients with progressive myopia in age from 7 to 15 were analyzed. The significant variation of fixation microsaccades characteristics was found. The research revealed significant correlations between the size of fixation area, the average speed of eye movements during fixation and the patient’s age. It was discovered that by the age of 11, the narrowing and stabilization of fixation area takes place. Some features of fixation eye movements in children with progressive myopia were revealed: the reduction of rhythmical microsaccades with an amplitude less than 15 minutes of arc and frequency about 8 Hz and the marked difference in composition of microsaccades between right and left eye. It is possible to distinguish several typological groups based on characteristics of the fixation microsaccades. Studying the fixation eye movements in complex with the other methods allows evaluating the functional integration of sensory and motor components of visual perception in patients with progressive myopia in more detail and creates premises for the elaboration of individual prophylactic and therapeutic programs. Furthermore, the registration of fixation eye movements could be a means of objective monitoring of the visual functions development and the features of visual perception.
Key words: progressive myopia, fixation eye movements, rhythmical microsaccades, objective monitoring.
REFERENCES
- Yarbus A.L. The role of eye movements in the visual process, 1965, 166 p. (in Russ).
- Martinez-Conde S., Macknik S.L., Hubel D.H. The role of fixational eye movements in visual perception. Rev. Neurosci, 2004, Vol. 5, pp. 229–240.
- 3.Martinez-Conde S., Macknik S.L., Troncoso X., Dyar T.A. Microsaccades counteract visual fading during fixation, Neuron, 2006, Vol. 49, pp. 297–305, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.11.033.
- 4.Segal I.Y., Giladi C., Gedalin M. at al. Decorrelation of retinal response to natural scenes by fixational eye movements. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2015, Vol. 112, pp. 3110-3115, doi:10.1073/pnas.1412059112.
- Pitkow X., Meister M. Decorrelation and efficient coding by retinal ganglion cells. Nat Neurosci, 2012, Vol.15, pp. 628–635, doi:10.1038/nn.3064.
- Gippenreiter Y.B. Movement of the human eye. Moscow, 1978. 256 p. (in Russ).
- Rolfs M. Microsaccades: Small steps on a long way. Vision Research, 2009, V.49, pp. 2415–2441.
- Havermann K., Cherici C., Rucci M., Lappe M. Fine-scale plasticity of microscopic saccades. J Neurosci, 2014, Vol. 34, pp. 11665-11672, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5277-13.2014.
- Poletti M., Listorti C., Rucci M. Microscopic eye movements compensate for nonhomogeneous vision within the fovea. Curr Biol, 2013, Vol. 23, pp.1691–1695.
- The development of the brain and formation of cognitive activity of the child, 2009, 432 p. (in Russ).
- Kuznetsova M.V. The reasons for the development of myopia and its treatment, 2005, 176 p. (in Russ).
- Koshelev D.I. Movements of the right and left eye during fixation with emmetropia and myopia, 2012, no.12, pp. 101-105. (in Russ).
- Hafed Z.M., Krauzlis R.J. Similarity of superior colliculus involvement in microsaccade and saccade generation. Neurophysiol, 2012, Vol.107, pp. 1904–1916, doi:10.1152/jn.01125.2011.
- Snodderly D.M., Kagan , Gur M. Selective activation of visual cortex neurons by fixational eye movements: implications for neural coding. Vis Neurosci, 2001, Vol.18, pp. 259-277.
- Ghasia F.F., Shaikh A.G. Uncorrected Myopic Refractive Error Increases Microsaccade Amplitude. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 2015, Vol. 56, pp. 2531-2535, doi:10.1167/iovs.14-15882.
- Koshelev D.I., Mukhamadiev R.A., Sirotkina I.V. Features of eye movements during fixation in children of primary school age and their possible role in the development of myopia. «Nevskie gorizonty-2010: Materials of the anniversary scientific conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the founding of Russia’s first Department of pediatric ophthalmology in Saint Petersburg, 2010, Vol. II, pp. 90-96. (in Russ).
- Vodovozov A.M. Symmetry-Asymmetry of the visual organ in the normal condition, strabismus and visual fatigue, 2000. 128 p.