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UNDERSTANDING AND RESTORING VISUAL FUNCTION: PROGRESSION, TREATMENT, AND RECOVERY OF RETINAL AND CORTICAL DEFICITS IN AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF RETINOPATHY.
Abdel-Rahamane Kader Fofanaand 3 co-authors
Université de Montreal
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS02-07PM-656
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS02-07PM-656
Event Information
Poster Board
PS02-07PM-656
Poster
View posterAbstract
Partial retinal degeneration creates an inactive retinotopic zone (LPZ) in the primary visual cortex (V1), which may spontaneously reactivate over time. Cholinergic modulation of V1 has been suggested to facilitate this recovery. Here, the effect of cholinergic potentiation with donepezil (a cholinesterase inhibitor) coupled to visual training, on visual recovery after retinal damage was evaluated. Using a mouse model to closely replicate a highly prevalent blinding disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) was performed in 18 C57BL/6 mice, 2-3month aged. Five congruent laser burns were unilaterally applied to the superior temporal retina. Visual acuity, retinal function, and cortical neuronal activity were monitored for 4 weeks post-CNV using behavioral test, electroretinography (ERG) and calcium imaging in GCaMP6s mice. At 21 days post-CNV, ERG showed a significant reduction of a-wave (-24%) and b-wave (-31%) amplitudes. Calcium imaging showed a visually unreactive LPZ in V1, and the optokinetic test measured a significant loss of visual acuity (VA) in the damaged eye vs control eye (VA: 0.2957 vs 0.4168 respectively). Then, a subset of CNV mice treated with donepezil (0.3mg/kg) and/or passive visual training (15 min/day, 5 days) showed improved visual cliff performance compared to untreated animals, with efficacy increasing from visual training alone to donepezil alone and maximal with the donepezil + training. These results confirm the optimal efficacy of the combination of visual training + cholinergic potentiation.
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