Is the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Fluoxetine a Fountain of Youth?

Abstract

Evaluation of: Maya Vetencourt JF, Sale A, Viegi A et al.: The antidepressant fluoxetine restores plasticity in the adult visual cortex. Science 320, 385–288 (2008). The potential for synaptic strength to be regulated by experience is high early in postnatal life, and declines thereafter. The constraint of synaptic plasticity in the adult visual system is thought to underlie the resistance to therapy for the treatment of amblyopia. However, a recent report by Maya Vetencourt et al. demonstrates that systemic administration of the popular antidepressant fluoxetine reactivates synaptic plasticity in the visual system of adult rats, and enables the recovery of function in an eye chronically deprived of vision. Fluoxetine administration stimulated a decrease in basal levels of extracellular GABA, an increase in the level of BDNF and the return of long-term potentiation in slices of visual cortex. The ability to reactivate robust synaptic plasticity in the adult mammalian visual system has clear therapeutic potential for the treatment of amblyopia in adults.