It may be possible to reverse the effects of a “lazy eye” by taking the popular antidepressant Prozac, researchers said.
Researchers from Italy and Finland reported the results of their study, which involved laboratory rats with impaired vision similar to the type found in humans.
Amblyopia is the most frequent cause of visual impairment in childhood and affects 2 to 3 percent of children, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute.
Prozac, the popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), appears to return neurons in the adult brain back to a more flexible state similar to that found in childhood. This allows the visual perception system to create connections between the brain and the eye.
Results f the study may also shed light on the issue of determining how antidepressants really work. It has been theorized before that plasticity of neurons played a key role in the process.
Jose Fernando Maya Vetencourt from Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and colleagues intend to go on to study the drug’s curative properties on human eyesight, though definitive clinical trial plans have yet to be developed.
“It will take a couple of years, maybe more,” he told Reuters.
If it is untreated, “lazy eye” usually lasts into adulthood. There is no treatment for adults.
Vetencourt said that Prozac could open the door for other SSRIs to potentially help people with other neurological disorders related to plasticity, including Alzheimer’s disease.
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