Intraneural electrode stimulates light sensation for the blind

The advance from Switzerland’s EPFL and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy has been tested successfully on rabbits and is reported in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

"We believe that intraneural stimulation can be a valuable solution for several neuroprosthetic devices for sensory and motor function restoration. The translational potentials of this approach are indeed extremely promising", said Silvestro Micera, EPFL's Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational Neuroengineering, and Professor of Bioelectronics at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.

According to EPFL, the aim of the technology is to produce phosphenes, which is the sensation of seeing light in the form of white patterns without seeing light directly. Current technologies for helping the blind include prosthetic retinal implants, or brain implants that stimulate the visual cortex. The former excludes a number of potential recipients for clinical reasons, while the latter carries risks. The new intraneural solution is claimed to minimise exclusion criteria since the optic nerve and the pathway to the brain are often intact.