Longevity science

While the word prosthesis usually evokes images of artificial legs, arms, and these days even sophisticated thought-controlled hands, an entirely new class of replacement body part has now become a reality – the bionic eye.

One of the pioneers in this field is California-based Second Sight and the company has now announced that its Argus II System has received U.S. market approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

University of Sheffield researchers have developed a new method for producing membranes to help in the grafting of stem cells onto the eye, mimicking structural features of the eye itself.

The technology has been designed to treat damage to the cornea, the transparent layer on the front of the eye, which is one of the major causes of blindness in the world.

Australian researchers implanted a new version of a bionic eye into a blind woman. The subject had experienced years of darkness due to retinitis pigmentosa, but when the implant was activated, she could see light and shapes.

The implant behind the retina sends electrical impulses along the optic nervers and into the brain, which processes these signals despite the fact that they are not actually originiating from the retina.

Researchers have discovered a chemical that makes cells in the retinas of blind mice sensitive to light, temporarily restoring some vision.

They are working on an improved compound that they hope could one day be used to restore sight in human patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, the most common form of inherited blindness, and macular degeneration, the most common cause of acquired blindness in the developed world.

In an historic move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted market approval to an artificial retina technology, the first bionic eye to be approved for patients in the U.S.

Here you can see an animation of the bionic eye being developed in Melbourne, Australia by the Bionic Vision Australia consortium.

We reported on this implant earlier in the month.

http://www.scoop.it/t/longevity-science/p/2556266512/first-australian-bionic-eye-prototype-successfully-implanted

Researchers have deciphered the neural code used by mouse ganglion cells, and used it to create a prosthesis that reportedly restores normal vision to blind mice.

They have additionally deciphered the neural code of monkeys, which is close to that used by humans, so a device for use by blind people could also be on the way.