Science：抗抑郁药可恢复大脑视觉神经
研究人员报道说，抗抑郁药fluoxetine可以使成年大鼠脑中的与视觉有关的神经元回复到它们年轻时的更具可塑性的状态，并使其能够从某些类型的视觉损害中康复。相关论文发表在4月18日的《科学》杂志上。这一发现表明，fluoxetine可能对治疗成年人的弱视（也被称为“懒眼症”，是一种常见的眼疾）有用，罹患该病的患者的一只眼睛比另外一只要弱，因为较弱的那只眼睛在患者孩童期的早期未被充分使用。
新结果还为一个尚未得到解答的问题提供了线索，即抗抑郁药是如何帮助调整抑郁症患者的情绪的，因为该线索提示脑可塑性可能是该疾病的一个重要部分。
实验中，José Fernando Maya Vetencourt及其在意大利和芬兰的同僚给成年大鼠喂食常规剂量的fluoxetine，而这些成年大鼠的视力已经受到损害，因为在它们早年发育的关键时期，它们的眼睛缺少与视觉图像的接触。研究人员发现，大鼠脑中的蛋白质表达及电信号在治疗后发生了变化，表明这种治疗已经使大鼠视觉系统神经元的可塑性得到恢复并促进了大鼠视觉的康复。（来源：Eurekalert！中文版）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
（Science），Vol. 320. no. 5874, pp. 385 - 388，José Fernando Maya Vetencourt, Lamberto Maffei
The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex
We investigated whether fluoxetine, a widely prescribed medication for treatment of depression, restores neuronal plasticity in the adult visual system of the rat. We found that chronic administration of fluoxetine reinstates ocular dominance plasticity in adulthood and promotes the recovery of visual functions in adult amblyopic animals, as tested electrophysiologically and behaviorally. These effects were accompanied by reduced intracortical inhibition and increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the visual cortex. Cortical administration of diazepam prevented the effects induced by fluoxetine, indicating that the reduction of intracortical inhibition promotes visual cortical plasticity in the adult. Our results suggest a potential clinical application for fluoxetine in amblyopia as well as new mechanisms for the therapeutic effects of antidepressants and for the pathophysiology of mood disorders.
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