Irregularly timed electrical pulses reduce adaptation of retinal ganglion cells

Abstract

Objective. Retinal prostheses aim to provide visual percepts to blind people affected by diseases caused by photoreceptor degeneration. One of the main challenges presented by current devices is neural adaptation in the retina, which is believed to be the cause of fading - an effect where artificially produced percepts disappear over a short period of time, despite continuous stimulation of the retina. We aim to understand the neural adaptation generated in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) during electrical stimulation. Approach. Current visual prostheses use electrical pulses with fixed frequencies and amplitudes modulated over hundreds of milliseconds to stimulate the retina. However, in natu..