A new treatment for amblyopia?

Researchers from the The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US have described a potential new treatment for amblyopia.

Writing in Cell Reports, scientists have described how temporarily anaesthetising the retina can reverse the effects of long-term monocular deprivation in the visual cortex.

The researchers highlighted that, in experiments in mice, temporary retinal inactivation in either eye can drive recovery from deprivation amblyopia.

“We are cautiously optimistic that these findings may lead to a new treatment approach for human amblyopia, particularly given the discovery that silencing the amblyopic eye is effective,” the authors noted.

Picower Professor Mark Bear said that the research would next focus on establishing that the technique is effective in other species – and ultimately, in humans.

“If it does, it’s a pretty substantial step forward because it would be reassuring to know that vision in the good eye would not have to be interrupted by treatment,” Bear said.

“The amblyopic eye, which is not doing much, could be inactivated and ‘brought back to life’ instead. Still, I think that especially with any invasive treatment, it’s extremely important to confirm the results in higher species with visual systems closer to our own,” he highlighted.