Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental vision disorder resulting from abnormal visual input during the critical period of visual development, such as strabismus, uncorrected anisometropia, high refractive errors, and form deprivation. It is frequently associated with reduced visual acuity and deficits in binocular vision. Traditional occlusion therapy for amblyopia has typically been restricted to infants and young children during the critical period of visual development, as it is believed to be ineffective for older children and adults due to the decreased plasticity of the mature brain. Our research group has concentrated on pivotal scientific issues in amblyopia, including quantitative methods for detecting binocular vision, especially interocular visual suppression, the mechanisms underlying binocular vision impairment in amblyopia,treatment methods and their evaluations for amblyopia, and visual plasticity and its neural mechanismsin amblyopia. This paper summarizes the visual mechanisms and treatment modalitiesof amblyopia based on our research and both domestic and foreign sources, while also looking forward to the future development of this field in light of existing problems.

Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental vision disorder resulting from abnormal visual input during the critical period of visual development, such as strabismus, uncorrected anisometropia, high refractive errors, and form deprivation. It is frequently associated with reduced visual acuity and deficits in binocular vision. Traditional occlusion therapy for amblyopia has typically been restricted to infants and young children during the critical period of visual development, as it is believed to be ineffective for older children and adults due to the decreased plasticity of the mature brain. Our research group has concentrated on pivotal scientific issues in amblyopia, including quantitative methods for detecting binocular vision, especially interocular visual suppression, the mechanisms underlying binocular vision impairment in amblyopia,treatment methods and their evaluations for amblyopia, and visual plasticity and its neural mechanismsin amblyopia. This paper summarizes the visual mechanisms and treatment modalitiesof amblyopia based on our research and both domestic and foreign sources, while also looking forward to the future development of this field in light of existing problems.

目的：探究短期周边遮盖对成年视皮层双眼优势平衡的作用。方法：对12名正常成年人的各眼 (24只眼)分别进行单眼短期周边遮盖。遮盖方式为单眼佩戴90 min的环形、半透明的塑料遮盖板，遮盖板仅能透光，中央留有1 0°~15°视野范围的圆孔，从而实现周边遮盖。受试者在周边遮盖前、遮盖后的0~3、3~6、6~9、9~12、12~15、30、60和90 min均完成双眼竞争任务 (binocular rivalry task)。记录并分析各时间段中各眼的占优时间、双眼竞争在眼别间切换周期数和各眼占优概率随时间改变的特点等。每位受试者左右眼测试间隔1周进行。结果：在遮盖前，12名正常成年受试者被遮盖眼的占优时间与非遮盖眼的差异无统计学意义(92.78±6.33 s vs 87.22±6.23 s，P>0.05)，提示眼优势平衡。遮盖去除后的0~3 min，被遮盖眼占优比例显著增加至 0.721±0.11(P<0.001)，该效应在遮盖去除后的3~30 min均存在(P<0.05)，直至60 min(P=0.445)双眼基本恢复优势平衡。双眼优势转换周期在周边遮盖前后差异无统计学意义(P=0.064)。主导眼在去除周边遮盖后的0~3 min遮盖眼占优时间比例相对基线的改变幅度与遮盖非主导眼的差异无统 计学意义(P=0.835)。结论：短期的周边遮盖可改变成年双眼优势平衡，有望应用于视觉关键期后的弱视治疗中。视觉关键期后双眼视功能仍保留有一定的可塑性。

Objective: To study the effect of short-term peripheral patching on binocular dominance in adult visual cortex. Methods: Monocular short-term peripheral patching was performed on each eye (24 eyes) of 12 normal adults. The patching was achieved by monocularly wearing a ring-shaped, translucent and plastic patch for 90 minutes. The patch could only transmit light, but not pattern, and there was a circular hole with a visual field of 10°–15°, so as to achieve peripheral patching. Participants completed the binocular rivalry task at baseline and 0–3, 3–6, 6–9, 9–12, 12–15, 30, 60 and 90 min after peripheral patching. The dominance duration of each eye and the number of dominance switches between eyes were recorded. The probability of perceiving stimulus of each eye was calculated in each time period. Each participant’s both left and right eyes performed peripheral patching one week apart. Results: Before patching, the dominance duration of the patched eye was not significantly different from the non-patched eye (92.78±6.33 s vs 87.22±6.23 s, P>0.05), which suggests that the eye dominance was balanced. At 0–3 min after the removal of the patch, the dominance duration of the patched eye was increased significantly (P<0.001), and this effect existed until 30 min after the removal of the patch (P<0.05). The dominance duration of the patched eye at post-60 min was not significantly different from the baseline (P=0.445). There was no significant difference in the dominance switches among baseline and each period after patching (P=0.064). After the removal of patch on the dominant eye, the amplitude of change in the dominance duration of the patched eye at 0–3 min was not significantly different from that after the removal of patch on the non-dominant eyes (P=0.835). Conclusion: Short-term peripheral patching can also change the binocular dominance in adults, and it has the potential to be applied in treatment of adult amblyopia. After the critical period for visual development, binocular vision function still retains plasticity.