Abstract
BACKGROUND. A long-held goal of vision therapy is to transfer information directly to the visual cortex of blind individuals, thereby restoring a rudimentary form of sight. However, no clinically available cortical visual prosthesis yet exists.
METHODS. We implanted an intracortical microelectrode array consisting of 96 electrodes in the visual cortex of a 57-year-old person with complete blindness for a 6-month period. We measured thresholds and the characteristics of the visual percepts elicited by intracortical microstimulation.
RESULTS. Implantation and subsequent explantation of intracortical microelectrodes were carried out without complications. The mean stimulation threshold for single electrodes was 66.8 ± 36.5 μA. We consistently obtained high-quality recordings from visually deprived neurons and the stimulation parameters remained stable over time. Simultaneous stimulation via multiple electrodes was associated with a significant reduction in thresholds (P < 0.001, ANOVA) and evoked discriminable phosphene percepts, allowing the blind participant to identify some letters and recognize object boundaries.
CONCLUSIONS. Our results demonstrate the safety and efficacy of chronic intracortical microstimulation via a large number of electrodes in human visual cortex, showing its high potential for restoring functional vision in the blind.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e151331 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-15 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Investigation |
| Volume | 131 |
| Issue number | 23 |
| Early online date | 19 Oct 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:FUNDING. The Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades, the Generalitat Valenciana (Spain), the Europan Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, the Bidons Egara Research Chair of the University Miguel Hernández (Spain), and the John Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah.
Funding Information:
We would like to thank the study subject (BG) and her husband for their extraordinary commitment to this study and their patience with experiments. We are very grateful to all the people from IMED Hospital Elche, especially to Carlos Yago, Enrique Ibañez, and Angel Gomez for all their help and support and for providing clinical care and monitoring throughout the study. We would also like to thank Joaquín López (Bidons Egara Research Chair) and Randall J. Olson (John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah) for their invaluable help and support during the planning and development of this research, and Noah C. Benson (University of Washington) and Jennifer Sorinas (University of Zurich) for all their help with the retinotopic analysis of the MRI images. Funding was provided by grant RTI2018-098969-B-100 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades, by grant PROMETEO/2019/119 from the Generalitat Valenciana, by the Bidons Egara Research Chair of the University Miguel Hernán-dez, by the John A. Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah, by a career development award from the NIH National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K23 NS114178), and by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah..
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Society for Clinical Investigation. All rights reserved.
Funding
FUNDING. The Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades, the Generalitat Valenciana (Spain), the Europan Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, the Bidons Egara Research Chair of the University Miguel Hernández (Spain), and the John Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah. We would like to thank the study subject (BG) and her husband for their extraordinary commitment to this study and their patience with experiments. We are very grateful to all the people from IMED Hospital Elche, especially to Carlos Yago, Enrique Ibañez, and Angel Gomez for all their help and support and for providing clinical care and monitoring throughout the study. We would also like to thank Joaquín López (Bidons Egara Research Chair) and Randall J. Olson (John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah) for their invaluable help and support during the planning and development of this research, and Noah C. Benson (University of Washington) and Jennifer Sorinas (University of Zurich) for all their help with the retinotopic analysis of the MRI images. Funding was provided by grant RTI2018-098969-B-100 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades, by grant PROMETEO/2019/119 from the Generalitat Valenciana, by the Bidons Egara Research Chair of the University Miguel Hernán-dez, by the John A. Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah, by a career development award from the NIH National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K23 NS114178), and by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah..
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Europan Union’s Horizon 2020 programme | |
| John Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah | |
| Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades | |
| Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades | PROMETEO/2019/119 |
| University Miguel Hernán-dez | |
| University Miguel Hernández | |
| National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke | K23NS114178 |
| Research to Prevent Blindness | |
| University of Utah | |
| Generalitat Valenciana |
