Investigations of the cause and treatment of deprivation-induced vision impairment

Interference with normal vision early in life, as with congenital cataracts or strabismus (turned eye), can promote aberrant development of neural circuitry that leads to permanent vision impairments - notably amblyopia. For decades, selected visual deprivation has been used to study the role of early sensory experience on brain organization, function, and development. Depriving normal visual input during a formative period early in life provokes conspicuous changes in the structure and function of neurons and their connections, all of which are believed to underlie a consequent and pronounced impairment to visual perception. Experiments in this proposal are designed to investigate the neural changes that lead to amblyopia and that accompany recovery. We have three specific aims: (1) to understand the intracellular processes that enable neurons to change structure in the context of amblyogenic rearing; (2) to develop a novel treatment for amblyopia designed to promote recovery beyond what is typically achieved by conventional approaches; (3) to directly measure and characterize the functional and structural neural recovery brought about by novel and conventional treatment procedures. The more general objective of these investigations is to clarify the origin and etiology of deprivation-related vision impairments. This insight is expected to enable a more focused approach to treatment and recovery that will have direct health implications for conditions that disrupt sensory input and preclude normal brain development.