AUTHOR=Consorti Alan , Sansevero Gabriele , Torelli Claudia , Di Marco Irene , Berardi Nicoletta , Sale Alessandro TITLE=Visual Perceptual Learning Induces Long-Lasting Recovery of Visual Acuity, Visual Depth Perception Abilities and Binocular Matching in Adult Amblyopic Rats JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience VOLUME=16 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2022.840708 DOI=10.3389/fncel.2022.840708 ISSN=1662-5102 ABSTRACT=

An abnormal visual experience early in life, caused by strabismus, unequal refractive power of the eyes, or eye occlusion, is a major cause of amblyopia (lazy eye), a highly diffused neurodevelopmental disorder severely affecting visual acuity and stereopsis abilities. Current treatments for amblyopia, based on a penalization of the fellow eye, are only effective when applied during the juvenile critical period of primary visual cortex plasticity, resulting mostly ineffective at older ages. Here, we developed a new paradigm of operant visual perceptual learning performed under conditions of conventional (binocular) vision in adult amblyopic rats. We report that visual perceptual learning induced a marked and long-lasting recovery of visual acuity, visual depth perception abilities and binocular matching of orientation preference, and we provide a link between the last two parameters.