Drug for Alcohol Use Disorder Found Effective at Treating Age-Related Vision Loss

Experts found a new solution to the age-related vision loss caused by macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The formula to treat patients afflicted with the disease is already present within the components of an existing drug utilized as therapeutics for alcohol use disorder.

The new research discovered that, alongside the latest drug solution, several phases of vision loss might help formulate other drugs to revert its degradation.

Vision Loss in Age-related Macular Degeneration and Retinitis Pigmentosa

(Photo: George Becker from Pexels)
Human Eye

Age-related macular degeneration or AMD is listed among the most common causes of poor vision and blindness in older adults. The disease starts from the center of the peripheral vision and gradually degrades the weak functions of the entire eye organ.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), on the other hand, is a genetic disorder that rarely affects older people. Like the AMD, retinitis pigmentosa also has similar impacts on the visual field. Both the AMD and retinitis pigmentosa does not have any cures, and treatments for visual restoration would be ineffective once the eyesight in both illnesses was lost.

Despite being irreversible, both the cases of age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa could still be halted through the administration of preventive measures once the progression of symptoms is detected.

Initial studies revealed that the outer retina's degeneration in AMD and RP cases also impacts the inner retina. This is because the retinal ganglion, or the cells in the region, shifts to a hyperactive state and produces a reaction experts call 'sensory noise.'

When this reaction occurs, the photoreceptors are being disrupted from their communication with the brain.

The latest study shows that an existing drug called disulfiram could help the eye organs of the patients suppress its sensory noise. Through the solution, the visual functions could be prevented from developing eyesight diseases and vision loss, New Atlas reports.

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Disulfiram Effective for Eyesight Restoration

Disulfiram or Antabuse is a common drug that the FDA has approved for decades. The focus of the medicine is to assist individuals with excessive alcoholism to battle the disorder. With the help of blind mice subjects, the drug was effective at restoring visions.

The University of California - Berkeley's Department of Molecular and Cell Biology expert Michael Telias, the lead author of the study, explained that their team discovered how the drug disulfiram works in the same pathway, hyperactivated during degenerative blindness.

The observation phase has set some expectations, but what they witnessed was far better than the improvements the team had anticipated, Telias continued. The authors saw that some visions that were already lost over time were retained by the subjects administered with the disulfiram.

The subjects involved in the study were already at the final stage of the visual degeneration process, which was supposed to be incurable. After being given the treatments, the subjects were tested via exposure to images they previously could not see on a computer screen.

The subjects indeed detected the figures, suggesting a possible vision restoration. Future experiments with a separate drug called BMS 493 and disulfiram testing in human patients are already set. The study was published in the journal ScienceAdvances, titled "Retinoic acid inhibitors mitigate vision loss in a mouse model of retinal degeneration."