Spatially selective activation of the visual cortex via intraneural stimulation of the optic nerve
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Retinal prostheses can restore a functional form of vision in patients affected by dystrophies of the outer retinal layer. Beyond clinical utility, prostheses for the stimulation of the optic nerve, the visual thalamus or the visual cortex could also serve as tools for studying the visual system. Optic-nerve stimulation is particularly promising because it directly activates nerve fibres, takes advantage of the high-level information processing occurring downstream in the visual pathway, does not require optical transparency and could be effective in cases of eye trauma. Here we show, in anaesthetized rabbits and with support from numerical modelling, that an intraneural electrode array with high mechanical stability placed in the intracranial segment of the optic nerve induces, on electrical stimulation, selective activation patterns in the visual cortex. These patterns are measured as electrically evoked cortical potentials via an ECoG array placed in the contralateral cortex. The intraneural electrode array should enable further investigations of the effects of electrical stimulation in the visual system and could be further developed as a visual prosthesis for blind patients.
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Results in rabbits showed that the selective activation of different portions of the optic nerve induced spatially organised cortical activation patterns in the rabbit's V1.
“Results in rabbits showed that the selective activation of different portions of the optic nerve induced spatially organised cortical activation patterns in the rabbit's V1 [63,74,75].”
From Advances in visual prostheses: engineering and biological challenges (2022) · cites this paper as [74]
Preclinical trials are performed either on sighted or blind animal models.
“Preclinical trials are performed either on sighted [74,100,[204][205][206] or blind [126,132] animal models.”
From Advances in visual prostheses: engineering and biological challenges (2022) · cites this paper as [74]
Selective activation of a few optic nerve fibres by each electrode was still an open challenge.
“However, the selective activation of a few optic nerve fibres by each electrode was still an open challenge.”
From Three-dimensional multilayer concentric bipolar electrodes restrict spatial activation in optic nerve stimulation (2022) · cites this paper as [18]
The OpticSELINE intraneural electrode array was recently proposed for artificial vision via optic nerve electrical stimulation.
“Our research group recently proposed a new intraneural electrode array (OpticSELINE) for artificial vision via optic nerve electrical stimulation [18, 19].”
From Three-dimensional multilayer concentric bipolar electrodes restrict spatial activation in optic nerve stimulation (2022) · cites this paper as [18]
This result confirms the previous finding that cortical activation can be modulated in amplitude by increasing the number of pulses instead of changing the current intensity.
“This result confirms the previous finding that the cortical activation can be modulated in amplitude by increasing the number of pulses instead of changing the current intensity [18].”
From Three-dimensional multilayer concentric bipolar electrodes restrict spatial activation in optic nerve stimulation (2022) · cites this paper as [18]
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References 78 · Cited by 73
- Authors
- Gaillet, V., Cutrone, A., Artoni, F., Vagni, P., Mega Pratiwi, A., Romero, S. A., Lipucci Di Paola, D., Micera, S., & Ghezzi, D.
- Affiliations
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Ghezzi, Diego
- Venue
- Nature Biomedical Engineering
- Published
- 2019-08-19
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 181-194
- ISSN
- 2157-846X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2969880795
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 4.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Biomedical Engineering (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fondation Bertarelli
- Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering
- European Commission (750947, HORIZON2020)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neural Engineering
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- optic nerve stimulation, visual cortex activation, retinal prosthesis, visual prosthesis, visual pathway, numerical modeling, intracranial stimulation, rabbit model
- MeSH terms
- Electrocorticography, Animals, Electric Stimulation, Electrodes, Implanted, Evoked Potentials, Visual, Female, Optic Nerve, Rabbits, Visual Cortex, Visual Prosthesis
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