Figure 1.

The developmental increase in rhodopsin content of the retina and temporal retinal coverage by large vessels.

Notes: As rod photoreceptor development proceeds, the rod outer segments elongate and rhodopsin content increases. These measures of rhodopsin extracted from whole retinae are companions for the full-field electroretinography that is used to evaluate rod activity. The red arrow indicates the onset of prethreshold ROP as described by Palmer et al.⁴ Copyright © 1999. Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Adapted from Fulton AB, Dodge J, Hansen RM, Williams TP. The rhodopsin content of human eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1999;40(8):1878–1883.⁷⁴ Data for vessel coverage values from Provis JM. Development of the primate retinal vasculature. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2001;20:799–821.⁶

Abbreviation: ROP, retinopathy of prematurity.