KEY POINTS: Occlusion of one eye of kittens ( @entity1949 ) results in a severe and permanent @entity227 in that eye, which parallels closely the @entity1018 characteristic of @entity1 @entity4457 . We extended earlier work to demonstrate that amblyopic @entity1018 can be either blocked or erased very fast by a 10 day period of @entity348 following a period of @entity1949 that begins near birth and extends to at least 8 weeks of age. The parameters of darkness were strict because no visual recovery was observed after 5 days of darkness. In addition, short periods of light introduced each day during an otherwise 10 day period of darkness obliterated the benefits. Despite recovery of normal visual acuity, only one-quarter of the animals showed evidence of having attained normal stereoscopic vision. A period of @entity348 may catalyse and improve treatment outcomes in amblyopic @entity1 . A 10 day period of @entity348 has been shown to either block or erase the severe effects on vision of a prior short period of @entity1949 ( @entity1949 ) in kittens depending on whether darkness is contiguous or is delayed with respect to the period of @entity1949 . We have extended these earlier findings from kittens for which the period of @entity1949 began at 1 month and lasted for 1 week to more clinically relevant situations where @entity1949 began near birth and lasted for >=  6 weeks. Despite the far longer @entity1949 and the absence of prior binocular vision, all animals recovered normal visual acuity in the previously deprived eye. As before, when the period of darkness followed immediately after @entity1949 , the vision of both eyes was initially very poor but, subsequently, the acuity of each eye increased gradually and equally to attain normal levels in     7 weeks. By contrast, when darkness was introduced 8 weeks after @entity1949 , the visual acuity of the deprived eye recovered quickly to normal levels in just 1 week without any change in the vision of the fellow (non-deprived) eye. Short (15 or 30 min) periods of illumination each day during an otherwise 10 day period of darkness obliterated all the benefits for vision, and a 5 day period of darkness was also completely ineffective. Measurements of depth perception indicated that, despite possessing normal visual acuity in both eyes, only about one-quarter of the animals showed evidence of having attained normal stereoscopic vision.

Recovery of visual functions in amblyopic animals following brief exposure to XXXX .

@entity1018 :: ('MESH:D054062', 'Disease') :: ['vision loss'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['children', 'human'] @entity227 :: ('MESH:D014786', 'Disease') :: ['loss of visual acuity'] @entity1949 :: ('MESH:D012892', 'Disease') :: ['monocular deprivation', 'MD'] @entity348 :: ('MESH:C535338', 'Disease') :: ['total darkness'] @entity4457 :: ('MESH:D000550', 'Disease') :: ['amblyopia']
@entity348 :: (MESH:C535338,Disease) :: ['total darkness']
