Visual Cortex Plasticity: A Complex Interplay of Genetic and Environmental Influences

Figure 3

Potential strategies for the treatment of human amblyopia in adult life. The recent findings that environmental enrichment [17, 81, 82, 137, 138], long-term administration of fluoxetine [15, 16], dark exposure [79, 80], food restriction [36], and IGF-1 signaling [83] all promote full recovery of visual acuity and binocularity in adult amblyopic animals, emphasize the potential of different pharmacological and/or behavioral interventions as complementary strategies for current therapies of human amblyopia in adult life. In particular, an enhanced sensory-motor activity together with a healthy diet planning, brief periods of visual deprivation by dark exposure, and pharmacological treatments (long-term antidepressant treatment or exogenous IGF-1 administration) may enhance plasticity by shifting the I/E ratio while increasing BDNF expression and epigenetic factors. These therapeutic interventions could be coupled to video game playing or computer-program-based training of the amblyopic eye in order to rescue normal visual functions after long-term sensory deprivation in humans.