Environmental enrichment in adulthood promotes amblyopia recovery through a reduction of intracortical inhibition.
Loss of visual acuity caused by abnormal visual experience during development (amblyopia) is an untreatable pathology in adults. We report that environmental enrichment in adult amblyopic rats restored normal visual acuity and ocular dominance. These effects were due to reduced GABAergic inhibition in the visual cortex, accompanied by increased expression of BDNF and reduced density of extracellular-matrix perineuronal nets, and were prevented by enhancement of inhibition through benzodiazepine cortical infusion.
Sale
Alessandro
A
Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri, I-56100 Pisa, Italy. a.sale@sns.it
Maya Vetencourt
José Fernando
JF
Medini
Paolo
P
Cenni
Maria Cristina
MC
Baroncelli
Laura
L
De Pasquale
Roberto
R
Maffei
Lamberto
L
D000550:Amblyopia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D023882:Dominance, Ocular; D004777:Environment; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology; D017551:Microdialysis / Q000379:methods; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid