Optically Induced Anisometropia

描述（由申请人提供）：出生后不久，大多数婴儿都会出现最佳屈光不正（即，“临床”正视），然后在整个儿童期和成年早期保持。然而，由于目前尚不清楚的原因，一个显着的和越来越多的比例的人口发展异常屈光不正。我们研究计划的长期目标是更好地了解常见人类屈光不正的病因（例如，近视或近视），并最终开发有效的光学治疗策略，减少屈光不正的影响。我们提出的研究的具体目标是确定视觉体验如何影响屈光发育，并表征调节眼睛生长的视觉依赖机制的操作特性。由于许多所需的实验无法在人类身上进行，但我们的目的是产生可应用于人类发展的知识，因此这些实验将使用恒河猴进行。控制饲养策略、光学和超声测量技术以及磁共振成像将用于确定：1）高环境光水平对眼睛生长的正视化和视觉依赖性变化的影响，2）相对周边近视对中心轴生长和屈光发育的影响，以及3）同时叠加在竞争性远视散焦（一种非常强的生长刺激）上的相对近视散焦是否可以延迟轴向生长并促进远视。拟议的实验集中在有关的方式，视觉经验影响屈光发展的基本问题，并在确定如何以及在何种程度上的视觉经验有助于常见的人类屈光不正的成因是一个重要的步骤。更重要的是，这些研究的结果可能为人类屈光不正的新治疗和管理策略提供基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Soon after birth, most infants develop the optimal refractive error (i.e., "clinical" emmetropia) in both eyes that is then maintained throughout childhood and into early adult life. However, for reasons not currently understood, a significant and increasing proportion of the population develop abnormal refractive errors. The long-term goal of our research program is to provide a better understanding of the etiology of common human refractive errors (e.g., myopia or nearsightedness) and ultimately to develop effective optical treatment strategies that reduce the impact of refractive errors. The specific aims of our proposed research are to determine how visual experience affects refractive development and to characterize the operational properties of the vision-dependent mechanisms that regulate eye growth. Since many of the required experiments can not be conducted in humans, but our purpose is to generate knowledge that can be applied to human development, these experiments will be conducted using rhesus monkeys. Controlled rearing strategies, optical and ultrasonographic measurement techniques, and magnetic resonance imaging will be used to determine: 1) the effects of high ambient light levels on emmetropization and vision-dependent changes in eye growth, 2) the influence of relative peripheral myopia on central axial growth and refractive development, and 3) whether relative myopic defocus that is simultaneously superimposed on competing hyperopic defocus (a very strong stimulus for growth) can retard axial growth and promote hyperopia. The proposed experiments focus on fundamental issues concerning the manner in which visual experience influences refractive development and are an important step in determining how and to what extent visual experience contributes to the genesis of common human refractive errors. More importantly, the results of these studies will potentially provide the foundation for new treatment and management strategies for human refractive errors.