Contrast Increment and Decrement Processing in Individuals With and Without Diabetes.

Purpose: Animal models suggest that ON retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) may be more vulnerable to diabetic insult than OFF cells. Using three psychophysical tasks to infer the function of ON and OFF RGCs, we hypothesized that functional responses to contrast increments will be preferentially affected in early diabetes mellitus (DM) compared to contrast decrement responses.

Methods: Fifty-two people with DM (type 1 or type 2) (mean age = 34.