Amiodarone, an antiarrhythmic agent that is very effective in suppressing ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias, is associated with many severe side effects. Numerous adverse effects on the human eye are corneal deposits, subcapsular lens opacities and optic neuropathy. It is also known, that amiodarone, as a cationic-amphiphilic agent, induces a generalized lipidosis. The purpose of the present study was to show, by means of ERG and light microscopy, whether amiodarone-induced lipidosis causes functional and histological degenerations of the retina of mice. Therefore 21 female mice were treated orally with amiodarone for 22 weeks. 20 animals were in the control group. ERG measurements and histological investigations were made at the beginning of the test series and after 4, 8 and 22 weeks. There were no significant changes in the electroretinographic parameters. The a- and b-wave amplitudes did not differ from that in the control group. No retinal lipidosis-like alterations were found during light-microscopic examination. A final assessment of the retina-toxicity of amiodarone is at this point not possible. More complex investigations like electron microscopy must be made. In the early diagnostic of ocular side effects of amiodarone in the species mouse the ERG seems not predictable. |