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Photovoltaic restoration of sight with high visual acuity

Patients with retinal degeneration lose sight due to gradual demise of photoreceptors. Electrical stimulation of the surviving retinal neurons provides an alternative route for delivery of visual information. We demonstrate that subretinal arrays with 70 μm photovoltaic pixels provide highly localiz...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lorach, Henri, Goetz, Georges, Smith, Richard, Lei, Xin, Mandel, Yossi, Kamins, Theodore, Mathieson, Keith, Huie, Philip, Harris, James, Sher, Alexander, Palanker, Daniel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4601644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25915832
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.3851
Descripción
Sumario:Patients with retinal degeneration lose sight due to gradual demise of photoreceptors. Electrical stimulation of the surviving retinal neurons provides an alternative route for delivery of visual information. We demonstrate that subretinal arrays with 70 μm photovoltaic pixels provide highly localized stimulation, with electrical and visual receptive fields of comparable sizes in rat retinal ganglion cells. Similarly to normal vision, retinal response to prosthetic stimulation exhibits flicker fusion at high frequencies, adaptation to static images and non-linear spatial summation. In rats with retinal degeneration, these photovoltaic arrays provide spatial resolution of 64 ± 11 μm, corresponding to half of the normal visual acuity in pigmented rats. Ease of implantation of these wireless and modular arrays, combined with their high resolution opens the door to functional restoration of sight.