Sensory-Motor Control of the Binocular Near Response

描述(申请人提供)：双眼近视反应的感觉-运动控制是一项基础研究，研究随着年龄增长而出现的调节幅度的进行性降低(老花眼)，以及它如何影响聚焦反应和双眼对齐(近视反应)的协调。早期老花眼开始于童年，随着调节幅度随着年龄的增长而线性下降，直到生命的第四个十年结束时，几乎所有的眼睛都通过改变眼睛的光学能力而变得无法适应。虽然在过去的一个世纪里，研究集中在调节结构部分的生物力学特性以及这些结构中与年龄相关的导致老花眼的生物力学变化，但关于调节的神经控制如何适应这些变化的知识进展非常有限。本研究通过调节和收敛的神经控制来研究近视反应的最优化，以响应与年龄相关的调节植物的生物力学变化，而调节植物是老花眼自然发展的基础。该建议涉及(1)适应调节以保持年轻的调节动力学的能力，以响应与年龄相关的晶状体的粘弹性特性的变化，(2)适应动态调节和收敛对其动态交叉耦合作用的影响，(3)适应调节和收敛之间的静态交叉耦合交互作用，以响应与年龄相关的眼晶状体的生物力学变化，(4)将双方同意的调节校准为两个眼晶状体潜在的不相等老化，以及(5)适应能力随年龄下降。结果将通过调节的动态特性及其与趋同的相互作用的模型来解释，以了解适应如何随着年龄的增长而扩大近反应的线性操作范围。这些实验的结果将提供关于适应机制的基础知识，这些机制可以弥补调节随年龄而下降的现象，以及调节和会聚之间的相互作用，这些相互作用会影响双眼对齐的准确性。此外，从实验中开发的模型可以促进新疗法的成功设计和实施，例如调节旨在抵消老花眼的人工晶状体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sensory-Motor Control of the Binocular Near Response is a basic study of the progressive reduction of accommodative amplitude that occurs with age (presbyopia) and how it influences the coordination of focusing responses and binocular eye alignment (the near response). Incipient presbyopia begins in childhood and progresses as the amplitude of accommodation declines linearly with age until the end of the fourth decade of life when virtually all eyes become unable to accommodate by changing optical power of the eyes. While research during the past century has concentrated on the biomechanical properties of the structural components of accommodation and on the age-related biomechanical changes in these structures that lead to presbyopia, advances in knowledge of how neural control of accommodation adjusts to these changes has been very limited. This proposal investigates the optimization of the near response by adapting neural control of accommodation and convergence in response to age-related biomechanical changes of the accommodation plant that underlie the natural progression of presbyopia. The proposal addresses (1) the ability to adapt accommodation to preserve youthful accommodative dynamics in response to age-related changes in visco-elastic properties of the crystalline lens, (2) the influence of adapting dynamic accommodation and convergence on their dynamic cross-coupled interactions, (3) adaptation of the static cross-coupled interactions between accommodation and convergence in response to age-related biomechanical changes of the ocular lens, (4) calibration of consensual accommodation to potential unequal aging of the two ocular lenses, and (5) decline of adaptation ability with age. Results will be interpreted with models of the dynamic properties of accommodation and their interactions with convergence, in order to understand how adaptation could extend the linear operating range of the near response with age. Results of these experiments will provide fundamental knowledge about the adaptive mechanisms that compensate for the decline of accommodation with age, and interactions between accommodation and convergence that influence the accuracy of binocular eye alignment. In addition, models developed from the experiments can facilitate the successful design and implementation of new treatments, such as accommodating intra-ocular lenses, designed to offset presbyopia.