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. 2020 Jun 30;9(7):45.
doi: 10.1167/tvst.9.7.45. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Evaluation of Electrical Performance and Properties of Electroretinography Electrodes

Tony T C Man  1 , Yolanda W Y Yip  1 , Frederick K F Cheung  1 , Wing Sze Lee  1 , Chi Pui Pang  1 , Mårten Erik Brelén  1
Affiliations

Evaluation of Electrical Performance and Properties of Electroretinography Electrodes

Tony T C Man et al. Transl Vis Sci Technol. .

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the electrical performance and properties of commercially available electroretinography (ERG) electrodes.

Methods: A passive ionic model was used to measure impedance, noise, and potential drift in 10 types of ocular surface and skin ERG electrodes.

Results: The impedance for silver-based ocular electrodes are generally lower (range, 65.35-343.3 Ω) with smaller phase angles (range, -6.41° to -33.91°) than gold-based electrodes (impedance ranged from 285.95 Ω to 2.913 kΩ, and phase angle ranged from -59.65° to -70.01°). Silver-based ocular electrodes have less noise (median line noise of 6.48 x 104nV2/Hz) than gold-based electrodes (median line noise of 2.26 x 105nV2/Hz). Although silver-based electrodes usually achieve a drift rate less than 5 µV/s within 15 minutes, gold-base ocular electrode cannot achieve a stable potential. The exception is the RETeval strip type of silver electrode, which had an unusual drift at 20 minutes. The noise spectral density showed no change over time indicating that noise was not dependent on the stabilization of the electrode.

Conclusions: From the range of electrodes tested, lower impedance, lower capacitance, and lower noise was observed in silver-based electrodes. Stabilization of an electrode is effective against drift of the electrode potential difference but not the noise.

Translational relevance: Application of electrodes with optimized materials improve the quality of clinical electrophysiology signals and efficiency of the recording.

Keywords: electrode; electrodiagnostic; electrophysiology; electroretinography.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: T.T.C. Man, None; Y.W.Y. Yip, None; F.K.F. Cheung, None; W.S. Lee, None; C.P. Pang, None; M.E. Brelén, None

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The passive ionic agarose gel model used for testing the electrodes. Electrode 1 is the test electrode and electrode 2 is the Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Electrolyte was applied between the electrode and agarose model and the electrodes securely fixated to avoid motion artefacts during recording.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) Bode impedance plot for ocular electrodes. (B) Bode impedance plot for skin electrode. The dotted box encloses the frequency bandwidth of ophthalmic potentials. AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode; ACC, silver chloride cup electrode; AGC, silver cup electrode; AUC, gold cup electrode; LKC, RETeval sensor strip; NAT, disposable disk electrode; RED, RedDot 2249-50 electrode.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) Bode phase angle plot for ocular electrode. (B) Bode phase angle plot for skin electrode. The dotted box encloses the frequency band of ophthalmic potentials. AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode; ACC, silver chloride cup electrode; AGC, silver cup electrode; AUC, gold cup electrode; LKC, RETeval sensor strip; NAT, disposable disk electrode; RED, RedDot 2249-50 electrode.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
(A) Box plot of electrode impedances at 50 Hz for ocular electrodes; (B) Box plot of electrode impedances at 50 Hz for skin electrodes. RedDot 2249-50 electrode and DTL Plus electrode have the smallest and most stable impedance response among skin electrode and ocular electrodes, respectively. *Indicates significant difference (P < 0.05). AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode; ACC, silver chloride cup electrode; AGC, silver cup electrode; AUC, gold cup electrode; LKC, RETeval sensor strip; NAT, disposable disk electrode; RED, RedDot 2249-50 electrode.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The NSD plot of ocular electrodes. Prominent differences can be observed in the low-frequency range (<10 Hz) between the electrodes and a peak is observed at 50 Hz as a result of power line noise interference. AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode. An offset of 10x was used between traces.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
The box plot of the powerline NSD plot of ocular electrodes. Distribution of the noise density is coherent with the peak size in Figure 5. AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
(A) Potential drift (µV/s) against time of the ocular electrodes. The potential difference between ERG-Jet electrode and reference electrode remained unstable for the entire 60-minute recording interval. Most of the silver-based electrodes stabilized much faster than gold-based electrodes. (B) Potential drift (µV/s) against time for the skin electrodes. AUF, gold foil electrode; BAC, Burian-Allen corneal electrode; BAP, Burian-Allen palpebral conjunctival electrode; DTL, DTL Plus electrode; HKL, HK-Loop electrode; JET, ERG-Jet electrode; ACC, silver chloride cup electrode; AGC, silver cup electrode; AUC, gold cup electrode; LKC, RETeval sensor strip; NAT, disposable disk electrode; RED, RedDot 2249-50. An offset of 10x was used between traces.
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