By temporarily suspending retinal activity in the non-amblyopic eye of animal models, neuroscientists restrengthened the visual response in the amblyopic eye, even at ages after the critical period when patch therapy fails.

In a new study, MIT and Dalhousie University neuroscientists demonstrate that by temporarily anesthetizing the retina of the good eye, they could lastingly improve vision in the amblyopic one even after the critical period in two different mammal species.

The encouraging results support further preclinical testing of the novel therapy, in which the non-amblyopic eye’s retina is temporarily and reversibly silenced by an injection of tetrodotoxin (TTX), said Mark Bear, Picower Professor of Neuroscience in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT and corresponding author of the study published in eLife.

«We observed a recovery in every animal,» said Bear, a faculty member of MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. «We’ve done much better than anyone would have anticipated.»

The results provide hope that the approach can eventually be translated to people, added Kevin Duffy, Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie.

«These are remarkable data that demonstrate an unequaled profile of recovery,» said Duffy, who co-led the study with Ming-fai Fong, a postdoc in Bear’s Picower Institute lab. «I am hopeful and optimistic that this study can provide a pathway for a new and more effective approach to amblyopia treatment. I am very proud to have been part of this rewarding collaboration.»

A new approach to amblyopia

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