Journal article
Cortical activation following chronic passive implantation of a wide- Field suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis
J Villalobos, JB Fallon, DAX Nayagam, MN Shivdasani, CD Luu, PJ Allen, RK Shepherd, CE Williams
Journal of Neural Engineering | IOP PUBLISHING LTD | Published : 2014
Abstract
Objective. The research goal is to develop a wide-field retinal stimulating array for prosthetic vision. This study aimed at evaluating the effi cacy of a suprachoroidal electrode array in evoking visual cortex activity after long term implantation. Approach. A planar silicone based electrode array (8 mm × 19 mm) was implanted into the suprachoroidal space in cats (ntotal = 10). It consisted of 20 platinum stimulating electrodes (600 μm diameter) and a trans-scleral cable terminated in a subcutaneous connector. Three months after implantation (nchronic = 6), or immediately after implantation (nacute = 4), an electrophysiological study was performed. Electrode total impedance was measured fro..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mark McCombe for assistance with surgeries; Helen Feng for implant manufacturing; Alexia Saunders and Michelle McPhedran for assistance during the experiments; Rosemary Cicione for software coding; Rodney Millard for stimulator design; Thomas Landry and Sam John for data collection; and Sue Pierce and Elisa Borg for animal care. This work was performed at the Bionics Institute at St. Vincent's Hospital, and the Centre for Eye Research Australia from the University of Melbourne at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Funding was provided by the Ian Potter Foundation and the Australian Research Council through its Special Research Initiative in Bionic Vision Science and Technology grant to Bionic Vision Australia (BVA). The Bionics Institute and the Centre for Eye Research Australia acknowledge the support they receive from the Victorian Government through its Operational Infrastructure Support Program.