Some visual and neurochemical correlates of refractive development.
Increasing evidence indicates that the retina takes part in the postnatal regulation of eye growth, functioning in this respect to minimize refractive error. The evidence derives both from clinical observations in man and from experiments in animals. The discovery that visual form deprivation leads to an axial overgrowth of the eye and to myopia has opened the way to many current research initiatives. Neurochemical and immunocytochemical experiments in chick and monkey suggest that definable retinal neurons participate in the regulatory pathway controlling eye growth. The most comprehensive data presently implicate dopaminergic amacrine cells. Other important issues to be addressed include the relevance of an intact connection to the central nervous system and the precise retinal mechanism by which eye growth is regulated.
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Scheie Eye Institute, Philadelphia 19104-6075.
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Laties
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Stone
D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D005123:Eye / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009216:Myopia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways
D009479:Neuropeptides; D004298:Dopamine