MYOPIA AND OCULAR GROWTH--NEURAL MECHANISMS

描述：拟议的研究试图澄清神经和/或 神经药理学机制调节出生后眼部生长和 影响屈光不正的发展，特别是近视 (近视)。在雏鸟和包括人类在内的哺乳动物中，视觉依赖 反馈机制影响出生后眼部生长，因此暗示 控制屈光的神经机制。许多证据表明 视网膜本身对眼睛的生长和发育有显著影响 折射。在实验性近视眼的视网膜，PI和 其他追随线索的人正在发现神经化学扰动 开始确定调节生长过程的神经机制。这个 PI还发现了一条通过睫状神经节影响 眼睛的赤道扩张，表明视网膜和其他 神经通路相互作用，整合整体大小、形状和 成长中的眼睛的屈光。 他试图了解这些神经机制是如何相互作用和影响的 出生后眼的生长和屈光状态。用小鸡做模特， 将针对以下具体目标进行研究：1)进一步 视网膜多巴胺在眼球生长中作用的定义和 屈光不正的发展；2)胆碱能机制的阐明 调节眼球生长；3)其他神经药物的评价 影响眼睛生长和屈光的机制；4)识别 控制眼睛形状及其成分的神经机制，如 与轴向长度和屈光度完全不同。 国际刑警组织希望这些研究最终将导致一个充分的 Rational方法改进了对人类屈光不正的理解 可以被开发来预防它们。

DESCRIPTION: The proposed research seeks to clarify neural and/or neuropharmacological mechanisms regulating postnatal ocular growth and influencing the development of refractive errors, particularly myopia (nearsightedness). In chick and mammals including man, vision-dependent feedback mechanisms influence postnatal ocular growth, hence implicating neural mechanisms in the control of refraction. Much evidence identifies the retina itself as exerting a prominent influence on eye growth and refraction. In the retina of eyes with experimental myopia, the PI and others following the leads are finding neurochemical perturbations that are beginning to identify neural mechanisms regulating the growth process. The PI also has found a neural pathway through the ciliary ganglion influencing the equatorial expansion of the eye and proposes that the retina and other neural pathways interact in integrating the overall size, form and refraction of the growing eye. He seeks understanding of how these neural mechanisms interact and influence postnatal ocular growth and refractive status. Using the chick as a model, studies will be directed toward the following specific aims: 1) further definition of the role of retinal dopamine in ocular growth and the development of refractive errors; 2) clarification of cholinergic mechanisms modulating eye growth; 3) evaluation of other neuropharmacological mechanisms influencing ocular growth and refraction; and 4) identification of neural mechanisms controlling the shape of the eye and its components, as distinct from axial length and refraction alone. The PI hopes that these studies ultimately will lead to a sufficiently improved understanding of human refractive errors that rational approaches can be developed to prevent them.