OPTICALLY INDUCED ANISOMETROPIA IN MONKEYS

斜视性和屈光参差性弱视的特征都是 然而，最近的心理物理研究表明，视力下降 已经揭示了人类弱视在视觉上的显著差异 这两类弱视的特点。虽然养育了猴子 人工诱导的屈光参差或斜视表现 降低的空间分辨率，还没有确定是否 这些弱视猴子的视觉特征与那些 表现为人类患有这两种类型的弱视。在建议的 研究恒河猴将接受三种饲养程序 (光学诱导的屈光参差、光学诱导的斜视和 手术诱导的外斜视)，以前已经被证明会产生 临床上具有代表性的弱视程度。心理物理技术 将被用来确定这些饲养程序对 猴子的1)时空传递函数，2)字母敏锐度 轮廓相互作用程度的函数(即“拥挤”)，以及3) 阈值以上刺激的空间感觉(游标敏锐度和位移 阈值)。这些行为调查将确定是否足够 这些动物作为斜视和屈光参差性弱视的模型。 随后，将在一些实验中启动闭塞实验。 以确定是否有任何诱导的异常可以 得到了补救。将使用组织学和神经生理学技术1) 调查养育程序对反应的影响 纹状皮质神经元的特征及其细胞大小 在外侧膝状体，2)评估闭塞的效果 治疗，以及3)检验假设不同的神经丢失是 与斜视和屈光参差性弱视相关。结果是 这项研究将提供对弱视的更全面的理解，从而 有助于制定成功的治疗程序。

Both strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia are characterized by a reduction in visual acuity, however, recent psychophysical investigations of human amblyopes have revealed substantial differences in the visual characteristics of these two types of amblyopia. Although monkeys reared with either artificially-induced anisometropia or strabismus exhibit reduced spatial resolving capacities, it has not been deteremined if the visual characteristics of these amblyopic monkeys are similar to those manifested by humans with these two types of amblyopia. In the proposed study rhesus monkeys will be subjected to three rearing procedures (optically-induced anisometropia, optically-induced strabismus, and surgically-induced exotropia) which have previously been shown to produce a clinically-representative degree of amblyopia. Psychophysical techniques will be used to determine the effects of these rearing procedures on the monkeys' 1) spatiotemporal transfer function, 2) letter acuity as a function of the degree of contour interaction (i.e., "crowding"), and 3) spatial sense for suprathreshold stimuli (vernier acuity and displacement thresholds). These behavioral investigations will determine the adequacy of these animals as models for strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Subsequently, occlusion thereapy will be initiated in some experimental monkeys to determine if any of the induced abnormalities can be remediated. Histological and neurophysiological techniques will be used 1) to investigate the effects of the rearing procedure on the response characteristics of neurons in the striate cortex and on neuronal cell size in the lateral geniculate nucleus, 2) to evaluate the effects of occlusion therapy, and 3) to test the hypothesis that different neural loses are associated with strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. The results of this study will provide a more complete understanding of amblyopia and thus be helpful in the development of successful treatment procedures.