Electrodes for the blind
The brain implant partially restored the woman's eyesight
Maria Tolmacheva, XX2 century
A team of scientists from the University of Miguel Hernandez, the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience and the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah partially restored vision to a blind woman using a brain implant.
Scientists have been interested in the development of neural interfaces for a long time: such devices can help control robotic prostheses, as well as restore hearing and vision to people. In an article published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (Fernández et al., Visual perceptions evoked with an Intracortical 96-channel microelectrode array inserted in human occipital cortex), a team of researchers describes in detail how using an array of invasive electrodes it was possible to create a simple form of vision for a 58-year-old blind volunteer. The team conducted a series of experiments with a woman in the laboratory. The results obtained have breakthrough significance for scientists hoping to create a full-fledged visual neurointerface.
Neurosurgeons implanted an array of microelectrodes consisting of 96 microneedles into the visual cortex of the brain of a blind woman to stimulate neurons located next to the electrodes and read signals from them. The participant of the experiment wore glasses equipped with a miniature video camera; specialized software encoded the visual data collected by the camera and sent them to electrodes located in the brain. The array of electrodes then acted on surrounding neurons to stimulate quasi-visual sensations known as phosphenes to create an image.
The participant at the time of the study was completely blind for 16 years. She had no complications after the operation, and the researchers found that the implant does not disrupt the brain and does not have a negative effect on her. With the help of the implant, the woman was able to recognize lines, simple shapes and simple letters. To help her train with the prosthesis, the researchers created a video game with a character from the popular animated series "The Simpsons".
"These results are very interesting because they demonstrate both safety and effectiveness and can help realize the long—standing dream of many scientists - to transmit information from the outside world directly into the visual cortex of blind people, thereby restoring the rudimentary form of vision," he said. Eduardo Fernandez.
He also added that although these preliminary results are very encouraging, scientists should understand that there are still a number of important questions that have no answers, and that many answers still need to be found before a cortical visual prosthesis can be used in clinical therapy.
The researchers hope to use a more sophisticated image encoding system in the next series of experiments, capable of stimulating more neurons simultaneously and evoking more complex visual images.
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