I was asked several years ago by Dr. Masanobu Fukui, a fellow, ISVO Executive Committee member, to write an article for this journal on my insights on the development and progress of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. I agreed, but didn't get started until prompted to do so again by Dr. Fukui at the ACVO meeting in Denver, October 2002.
I have had a great opportunity to be a participant and observer in the development of the specialty of Ophthalmology in the U.S. I was President of the American Society of Veterinary Ophthalmologists in 1975-76 and President of the ACVO in 1984-85. I was also the ACVO representative on the American Board of Veterinary Specialties for 12 years, 1983-95.
Subsequent to the Denver meeting mentioned above, an article, "Veterinary Ophthalmology Board Certification in the U.S.A." by Stacy Andrew, has appeared in this Journal (1). I wish to start my review by correcting a few minor errors in Dr. Andrew's article. It is true that the first veterinary specialty organization. The College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) and the American board of Public Health (ABPH) were approved in 1951 by the AVMA House of Representatives and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine was similarly approved in 1957, but the Advisory Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS), with the charge of overseeing the specialties wasn't established until 1959 (2). The AVMA Council of Education, the Council that accredits Veterinary Colleges in the U.S.A., and other countries, is the AVMA committee that oversees the work of the ABVS. The name of the Advisory Board was changed to the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS) in 1992. Besides judging whether groups applying for specialty status meet the criteria well described by Dr. Andrew, the ABVS reviews annual reports and conducts in-depth 5-year review of each College to determine whether the specialty Colleges and Boards are operating under the policies and procedures as set forth by the ABVS in its Policies Procedures Manual (2).
Voting members of the ABVS are one representative from each specialty College or Board, and one representative from the AVMA Council on Education. In addition, one AVMA staff member and one representative from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) attend the annual meetings as non-voting members. As will be mentioned later in this article, the ABVS plays a very important role in specialties in Veterinary Medicine in the U.S.

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The orbit is a bony conic recess in the skull which contains the eyeball and its circumferential bulbar adnexa. The adnexa function in protection and maintenance of the eyeball integrity and hold the eyeball in situ. Orbital, ocular and optical axes are highly important to visual acuity. The orbital axis is on the middle line connecting between base to apex of the optical canal. The ocular axis (bulbar axis) passes from center of cranial to caudal aspect of the eyeball. The optical axis (axis opticus, visual axis) is a line drawn from center of cranial aspect to the fovea of the eyeball. These three axes do not completely overly on each other. Alittle medial deviation of the orbital axis from the optical axis is measurable. The afflicted and normal anatomy of the orbital cavity and its surrounding structures affecting function of the eyeball are described.

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Light reflextest is an item of the ophthalmological examination, which is intended to evaluate the neurological function from photoreception, conduction of stimulus up to consequential miosis, differently from morphological observation of the eyes using a slit lamp and an ophthalmoscope. Although, evaluation of the light reflex is thought to be useful for better understanding of ophthalmological lesions observed in humans, light reflex abnormalities in rats have rarely been reported. In a 26-week toxicity study in rats which was conducted at our facility, we encountered Crj:CD(SD)ISG rats, one male and one female, exhibiting impaired light reflex in the ophthalmological examination. In the male, normal light reflex (bilateral miosis) was observed when the light beam was applied to the left eye, but both eyes failed to respond to the light beam to the right eye. A slit lamp and an indirect ophthalmoscope revealed no abnormalities in the eyes. At necropsy, the right optic nerve was thin and the left posterior hemisphere of the brain was depressed focally. Histopathology revealed a slight atrophy of the right optic nerve and focal defect of the left posterior cerebrum, the site where a part of afferent pathway for light reflex exists. From these, it was suspected that the cause of impaired light reflex in the male would be a focal defect of the posterior cerebrum containing afferent pathway for light reflex. In the female, similar to the case in male, normal light reflex was observed against the light stimulus to the left eye, but both eyes failed to respond to the light stimulus to the right eye. Ophthalmology revealed focal opacity of the lens and vitreous body, strong reflection of the light from the fundus and generalized thinning of the fundic vessels in the right eye. Necropsy revealed thinning of the right optic nerve and histopathology revealed a slight atrophy of the right optic nerve and severe atrophy of the right retina. From these, it was suspected that the cause of impaired light reflex in the female would be atrophy of the retina, a photoreceptor.

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