Title :
Time-varying pulse trains limit retinal desensitization caused by continuous electrical stimulation
Author :
Davuluri, Navya S. ; Weiland, James D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Biomed. Eng., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Abstract :
An epiretinal prosthesis aims to restore functional vision in patients suffering from retinal degeneration caused by diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). These diseases result in the loss of photoreceptors but bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cells survive at high rates and can be electrically activate to produce the sensation of light. Continuous application of biphasic stimulus pulses results in desensitization of the retina. In humans, this manifests as decreased brightness and increased stimulus thresholds. This study presents an in vivo model of retinal desensitization caused by continuous electrical stimulation and describes a novel stimulation pattern that limit desensitization.
Keywords :
bioelectric phenomena; cellular biophysics; diseases; eye; patient treatment; physiological models; prosthetics; vision defects; AMD; Age-Related Macular Degeneration; RP; Retinitis Pigmentosa; amacrine cells; biphasic stimulus pulses; bipolar cells; brightness; continuous electrical stimulation; diseases; epiretinal prosthesis; functional vision restoration; ganglion cells; in vivo model; light sensation; photoreceptor loss; retina desensitization; retinal degeneration; retinal desensitization; stimulation pattern; stimulus threshold; time-varying pulse trains; Animals; Electrical stimulation; Electrodes; Probes; Prosthetics; Retina; Standards;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Chicago, IL
DOI :
10.1109/EMBC.2014.6943616
