Fig. 2: Chronic TMB administration improves visual function and cone viability in rd10 mice.

Study design is depicted in Fig. 1A. This figure presents data after a two-week A–D or one-month-long E–M treatment period. A Group-averaged visual evoked potential (VEP) responses (WT, n = 7 mice, n = 21 electrodes; rd10-vehicle, n = 10 mice, n = 30 electrodes; rd10-TMB, n = 10 mice, n = 31 electrodes). The traces represent group´s mean responses. B Normalized VEP amplitudes and first negative component latencies from response to light onset. C Group-mean neural spiking rate from single V1 neurons in response to ON-OFF light stimulus. The total number of single cells recorded in WT mice was 217, in rd10-vehicle 638, and in rd10-TMB mice 642 cells. D Spiking during ON response peak (left), and background spiking during sustained light OFF (right). E Representative partial retinal whole mount, stained for cone opsins, of a dark-reared P30 rd10 mouse. Image is zoomed and centered at the optic nerve head (ONH). F–G Comparison of ONH-centered zoomed images of vehicle-treated (F) and TMB-treated (G) experimental rd10 mice. The circular cone counting windows (yellow, 600 µm diameter) were centered at 500 µm from the ONH. H Superior central M-cone and (I) inferior central S(UV)-cone counts. J M-cone and (K) S(UV)-cone ERG b-wave amplitudes. L Western blots of alpha-tubulin (TUBA1B, loading control), cone arrestin (ARR3), and rhodopsin (RHO). The graph shows expression differences between the vehicle and TMB groups. M Optomotor responses as a function of changing spatial-frequency stimuli. The insert shows extrapolated visual acuity from the OMR index versus spatial frequency graphs. The statistical analysis employed for graphs I, and K was the Mann–Whitney U-test (two-tailed); for graphs (B) and (D) the Kruskal-Wallis test was followed by Dunn´s multiple comparisons test; for graph M (insert) one-way ANOVA analysis was followed by Bonferroni posthoc tests; and for graphs (H, J) and (L), Welch´s t-test (two-tailed) was used. The asterisks signify: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. Bar graph data are presented as mean ± SD. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.