Scientists in Australia have created and tested on sheep a new miniature bionic eye implant that offers hope of restoring vision to people with severe degenerative retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. The study was published in the prestigious journal Science Direct. 2023/03/e6dc1212e4242aaac184ce76c069036a.jpg» />
Retinitis pigmentosa is a hereditary disease that leads to retinal dystrophy and, as a result, blindness. In the world with such a pathology, one person lives in 4-5 thousand, in Russia there are about 40-50 thousand such patients. People with retinitis pigmentosa usually go blind gradually: first, the ability to see in the dark disappears, peripheral vision disappears, and colors fade. It is like a gradually closing window, as if a ring of darkness is slowly closing in front of your eyes.
From the point of view of physiology, with retinitis pigmentosa, retinal cells begin to gradually die. There are currently no standard treatments for this pathology. For a long time, patients were advised to take vitamin A, but clinical studies have shown that this is useless.
Now there is an experimental gene therapy. The first human trials showed relative effectiveness. A man who has been completely blind for 40 years has been able to see objects again, although he is still a long way from full vision recovery.
Another treatment option for people with retinitis pigmentosa is bionic prostheses. So in 2017, the first operation to install the Argus II bionic eye prosthesis was performed in Russia. This device, which looks like sports glasses, is actually a complex system of 60 electrodes that stimulate retinal cells that have not been affected by the disease. As a result, it is possible to send at least some information to the optic nerve.
«Nose writing», «through fingers» and other eye exercises
These simple manipulations will take a few minutes of your time and help maintain healthy vision.
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“These systems make it possible to see an abstract black and white image in the form of certain configurations of light figures. It resembles a pixelated picture, but with a very low resolution so far. But this gives a person social rehabilitation, it will be much easier for him to navigate in space, ”Hristo Takhchidi, the surgeon who was the first in Russia to install such a system to a patient, told MedPortal.
The new development of a team of researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of South Wales is extremely compact. The neuron stimulator itself is installed directly into the eye, and the communication module is implanted behind the ear.
Without glasses, however, it has not been done yet. A miniature camera captures an image, then it is processed and converted into a set of signals. These impulses are wirelessly transmitted through the skin to the communication module, which decodes the received information and transmits it to the eye stimulator.
“We hope that with this technology, people living with profound vision loss due to degenerative retinal diseases will be able to restore their vision,” said one of the authors of the innovation, Samuel Eggenberger, a biomedical engineer.
The team continues to improve methods of retinal stimulation. The first human trials of the new implant are due soon.