• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.541-553
• /
• 2023

Retinal prostheses have shown some clinical success in restoring vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. However, the post-implantation visual acuity does not exceed that of legal blindness. The reason for the poor visual acuity might be that (1) degenerate retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are less responsive to electrical stimulation than normal RGCs, and (2) electrically-evoked RGC spikes show a more widespread not focal response. The single-biphasic pulse electrical stimulation, commonly used in artificial vision, has limitations in addressing these issues. In this study, we propose the benefit of multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation. We used C57BL/6J mice and C3H/HeJ (rd1) mice for the normal retina and retinal degeneration model. An 8 × 8 multi-electrode array was used to record electrically-evoked RGC spikes. We compared RGC responses when increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse versus increasing the number of consecutive biphasic pulses at the same stimulus charge. Increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse induced more RGC spike firing while the spatial resolution of RGC populations decreased. For multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation, RGC firing increased as the number of pulses increased, and the spatial resolution of RGC populations was well preserved even up to 5 pulses. Multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation using two or three pulses in degenerate retinas induced as much RGC spike firing as in normal retinas. These findings suggest that the newly proposed multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation can improve the visual acuity in prosthesis-implanted patients.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.214-219
• /
• 2005

As part of Korean retinal prosthesis project, we have provided preliminary experimental results regarding voltage parameters for the stimulation of chemically degenerated rabbit retina. Since our APB-treated chemically degenerated retina is only ON-pathway blocked, now we switch our experiments to more appropriate retinal degeneration model, genetically degenerated retina model (RD mouse: rd/rd (C3H/HeJ)). Before studying with RD mouse, we started control experiments with normal SD rat to understand characteristics of retinal ganglion ceil activity with postnatal maturation in rodents. Ganglion cell activities were recorded with 8${\times}$8 multi-electrode array. Moving spontaneous bursts appeared until postnatal day of 15. During pre-eye opening period, no light evoked response appeared. After postnatal day of 2 weeks (post-eye opening period), ON-, OFF- and ON/OFF response appeared. The fractional distributions of ON, OFF, and ON/OFF ganglion cell is about $40\%,\;50\%$, and $5\%$. The percentage ($\%$) of light evoked response in each dorso-temporal, ventral, and dorso-nasal area of eye is about $50\%,\;37.5\%$ and $12.5\%$, respectively. We concluded that the optimal period for experiment in rodent is about postnatal day of 2${\~}$3 weeks.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.167-175
• /
• 2015

A retinal prosthesis is being developed for the restoration of vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Determining optimal electrical stimulation parameters for the prosthesis is one of the most important elements for the development of a viable retinal prosthesis. Here, we investigated the effects of different charge-balanced biphasic pulses with regard to their effectiveness in evoking retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses. Retinal degeneration (rd1) mice were used (n=17). From the ex-vivo retinal preparation, retinal patches were placed ganglion cell layer down onto an $8{\times}8$ multielectrode array (MEA) and RGC responses were recorded while applying electrical stimuli. For asymmetric pulses, 1st phase of the pulse is the same with symmetric pulse but the amplitude of 2nd phase of the pulse is less than $10{\mu}A$ and charge balanced condition is satisfied by lengthening the duration of the pulse. For intensities (or duration) modulation, duration (or amplitude) of the pulse was fixed to $500{\mu}s$($30{\mu}A$), changing the intensities (or duration) from 2 to $60{\mu}A$(60 to $1000{\mu}s$). RGCs were classified as response-positive when PSTH showed multiple (3~4) peaks within 400 ms post stimulus and the number of spikes was at least 30% more than that for the immediate pre-stimulus 400 ms period. RGC responses were well modulated both with anodic and cathodic phase-1st biphasic pulses. Cathodic phase-1st pulses produced significantly better modulation of RGC activity than anodic phase-1st pulses regardless of symmetry of the pulse.