RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Effect of fluoxetine on adult amblyopia: a placebo-controlled study combining neuroplasticity-enhancing pharmacological intervention and perceptual training
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 327650
DO 10.1101/327650
A1 Henri J. Huttunen
A1 J. Matias Palva
A1 Laura Lindberg
A1 Satu Palva
A1 Ville Saarela
A1 Elina Karvonen
A1 Marja-Leena Latvala
A1 Johanna Liinamaa
A1 Sigrid Booms
A1 Eero Castrén
A1 Hannu Uusitalo
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/25/327650.abstract
AB Amblyopia is a common visual disorder that is treatable in childhood. However, therapies have limited efficacy in adult patients with amblyopia. Fluoxetine can reinstate early-life critical period-like neuronal plasticity and has been used to recover functional vision in adult rats with amblyopia. This phase 2, randomized, double-blind (fluoxetine vs. placebo), multicenter clinical trial examined whether or not fluoxetine can improve visual acuity in amblyopic adults. This interventional trial included 42 participants diagnosed with moderate to severe amblyopia. Subjects were randomized to receive either 20 mg fluoxetine (n=22) or placebo (n=20). During the 10-week treatment period, all subjects performed daily computerized perceptual training and eye patching. There was no significant difference in treatment efficacy between the groups. Visual acuity at the primary endpoint had significantly improved over baseline in both the fluoxetine (−0.167 logMAR) and placebo (−0.194 logMAR) groups (both p < 0.001). Because patching alone is not effective in adults, the visual acuity improvement likely resulted from perceptual training. There was a positive correlation between visual acuity improvement and the perceptual training time. While this study failed to provide evidence that fluoxetine enhances neuroplasticity, our data support the usefulness of perceptual training for vision improvement in adults with amblyopia.