Rod and cone photoreceptors degenerate in retinitis pigmentosa (RP). While downstream neurons survive, they undergo physiological changes, including accelerated spontaneous firing in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Retinoic acid (RA) is the molecular trigger of RGC hyperactivity, but whether this interferes with visual perception is unknown.
Here, we show that inhibiting RA synthesis with disulfiram, a deterrent of human alcohol abuse, improves behavioral image detection in vision-impaired mice. In vivo Ca2+ imaging shows that disulfiram sharpens orientation tuning of visual cortical neurons and strengthens fidelity of responses to natural scenes. An RA receptor inhibitor also reduces RGC hyperactivity, sharpens cortical representations, and improves image detection. These findings suggest that photoreceptor degeneration is not the only cause of vision loss in RP. RA-induced corruption of retinal information processing also degrades vision, pointing to RA synthesis and signaling inhibitors as potential therapeutic tools for improving sight in RP and other retinal degenerative disorders.
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de-luke
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That's fascinating. Assuming others choose to study Antabuse and find they can replicate these findings, it opens a whole new avenue of understanding MD. I guess it's not surprising that nerves would act differently with lower input from the rods and cones, but I was surprised. If you follow this, can you let us know?
All the studies on Google Scholar are early rodent studies or in vitro, and there aren't many of either. The idea if applying directly to the eye to inhibit retinoic acid metabolism is interesting, but it looks to be a very long way from human clinical studies.
“This cropped up a few weeks ago and it’s an interesting potential re-purposing of a drug called Antabuse. The effects have so far only been seen in mice so we must be cautious about it’s potential as a treatment for AMD. It will need to be tested on humans in clinical trials before we can be sure it is effective at maintaining or even restoring some vision.”
Much as Carol says, there’s a phrase in medical science used to describe a paper that is interesting but describes something that can’t yet be applied to humans in a clinical setting - “it just says in mice”.
It looks as if that paper describes an observed effect of disulfiram in mice, it would take years of work to develop that into we might use - and it would be very likely not to get through all the stages of development
Yes, I take it. I've been taking it for about a year and half. 250 mg per day. My family doctor prescribed it based on articles written about it. Seems to be helping, although my left eye has gone wet and injections have started.
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Myopic macular degeneration 
Do I have macular degeneration 
Wet macular degeneration and blood thinners 
Just been diagnosed with macular degeneration 
