Hybrid retinal implant: fusion of engineering and neuroscience

Author

Yagi, T. ; Ito, Y. ; Kanda, H. ; Tanaka, S. ; Watanabe, M. ; Uchikawa, Y.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci. & Eng., Nagoya Univ., Japan

Volume

4

fYear

1999

fDate

1999

Firstpage

382

Abstract

A hybrid retinal implant is a visual prosthesis to reconstruct visual sensation in the blind. It consists of an external devise and an internal micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS). In order to connect the MEMS with the central nervous systems (CNS), several neurons are attached on the top of the MEMS, and their axons are guided with the peripheral nerve graft or the fiber filled with Schwann cells. After the axons reach the CNS to make functional connection with the CNS neurons, the adequate electrical stimulation will make the attached neurons produce the action potential so that it will be possible to send image signal to the CNS through the neurons. Namely, the attached neurons can be used as living electric wires in the hybrid retinal implant

Keywords

handicapped aids; microelectrodes; neurophysiology; prosthetics; sensor fusion; vision defects; visual evoked potentials; Schwann cells; action potential; central nervous systems; electrical stimulation; micro electromechanical system; neurons; neuroscience; retinal implant; sensor fusion; visual prosthesis; visual sensation; Central nervous system; Image reconstruction; Implants; Mechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Nerve fibers; Neurons; Neuroscience; Retina; Visual prosthesis;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1999. IEEE SMC '99 Conference Proceedings. 1999 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tokyo

ISSN

1062-922X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5731-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSMC.1999.812432

Filename

812432