Inhibition of myopia by 0.01% atropine eye drops: minimal doses, visual function and possible biological mechanisms

世界上大约有三分之一的人是近视眼。近视与受教育程度密切相关。因此，艾滋病的流行率正在上升，特别是在工业化国家。高度近视会增加失明的风险。阿托品滴眼液长期以来被认为可以抑制近视的发展，尽管有不可接受的副作用。近年来，人们发现，非常低的剂量也是有效的（0.01%），阿托品应用的缺点可能会在很大程度上消失。因此，在德国也越来越多地描述了阿托品对儿童近视进展的作用。然而，一些基本的问题仍然存在，如（1）什么是最小有效剂量和哪种阿托品溶液是最合适的？(2)低剂量阿托品对视觉功能有何影响？(3)阿托品通过哪些生物学机制抑制近视？这些问题将在拟议的项目中解决。

About one third of the world population is myopic. Myopie is tightly correlated with the degree of education. Iis prevalence is therefore rising, especially in the industrial nations. High degrees of myopia carry an increased risk of blindness. Atropin eye drops are known to inhibit myopia progression since a long time, although with inacceptable side effects. In recent years, it has been found that also very low doses are effective (0.01%) and that the disadvantages of atropine application may largely disappear. Therefore, also in Germany atropine is increasingly described against myopia progression in children. However, a number of basic questions remain as to (1) what is the minmal effective dose and which atropine solution is most appropriate? (2) what are the effects of low dose atropine on visual functions? (3) through which biological mechanisms can atropine inhibit myopia? These questions will be tackled in the proposed projects.