Residual vision activation and the brain-eye-vascular triad: Dysregulation, plasticity and restoration in low vision and blindness - a review.

ABSTRACT: Vision loss due to ocular diseases such as glaucoma, optic neuropathy, macular degeneration, or diabetic retinopathy, are generally considered an exclusive affair of the retina and/or optic nerve. However, the brain, through multiple indirect influences, has also a major impact on functional visual impairment. Such indirect influences include intracerebral pressure, eye movements, top-down modulation (attention, cognition), and emotionally triggered stress hormone release affecting blood vessel dysregulation. Therefore, vision loss should be viewed as the result of multiple interactions within a "brain-eye-vascular triad", and several eye diseases may also be considered as brain diseases in disguise. While the brain is part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. Neuronal netw

SUBMITTER: Sabel BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6294586 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature