• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.209-217
• /
• 2010

Retinal prostheses are being developed to restore vision for the blind with retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Since retinal prostheses depend upon electrical stimulation to control neural activity, optimal stimulation parameters for successful encoding of visual information are one of the most important requirements to enable visual perception. Therefore, in this paper, we focused on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to different voltage stimulation parameters and compared threshold charge densities in normal and rd1 mice. For this purpose, we used in vitro preparation for the retina of normal and rd1 mice on micro-electrode arrays. When the neural network of rd1 mouse retinas is stimulated with voltage-controlled pulses, RGCs in degenerated retina also respond to voltage amplitude or voltage duration modulation as well in wild-type RGCs. But the temporal pattern of RGCs response is very different; in wild-type RGCs, single peak within 100 ms appears while in RGCs in degenerated retina multiple peaks (~4 peaks) with ~10 Hz rhythm within 400 ms appear. The thresholds for electrical activation of RGCs are overall more elevated in rd1 mouse retinas compared to wild-type mouse retinas: The thresholds for activation of RGCs in rd1 mouse retinas were on average two times higher ($70.50{\sim}99.87\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ vs. $37.23{\sim}61.65\;{\mu}C/cm^2$) in the experiment of voltage amplitude modulation and five times higher ($120.5{\sim}170.6\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ vs. $22.69{\sim}37.57\;{\mu}C/cm^2$) in the experiment of voltage duration modulation than those in wild-type mouse retinas. This is compatible with the findings from human studies that the currents required for evoking visual percepts in RP patients is much higher than those needed in healthy individuals. These results will be used as a guideline for optimal stimulation parameters for upcoming Korean-type retinal prosthesis.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.149-160
• /
• 2023

This study develops a time-varying system-based noncontact fabric sensor that can measure cerebral blood-flow signals to explore the possibility of brain blood-signal detection and emotional evaluation. The textile sensor was implemented as a coil-type sensor by combining 30 silver threads of 40 deniers and then embroidering it with the computer machine. For the cerebral blood-flow measurement experiment, subjects were asked to attach a coil-type sensor to the carotid artery area, wear an electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode and a respiration (RSP) measurement belt. In addition, Doppler ultrasonography was performed using an ultrasonic diagnostic device to measure the speed of blood flow. The subject was asked to wear Meta Quest 2, measure the blood-flow change signal when viewing the manipulated image visual stimulus, and fill out an emotional-evaluation questionnaire. The measurement results show that the textile-sensor-measured signal also changes with a change in the blood-flow rate signal measured using the Doppler ultrasonography. These findings verify that the cerebral blood-flow signal can be measured using a coil-type textile sensor. In addition, the HRV extracted from ECG and PLL signals (textile sensor signals) are calculated and compared for emotional evaluation. The comparison results show that for the change in the ratio because of the activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems due to visual stimulation, the values calculated using the textile sensor and ECG signals tend to be similar. In conclusion, a the proposed time-varying system-based coil-type textile sensor can be used to study changes in the cerebral blood flow and monitor emotions.