University of Southern California researchers stimulated a blind rat’s eye with ultrasound waves to provide visualizations. (Image Credit: University of Southern California)
$44 billion for Twitter, barely anything for what really matters in improving the human experience. Like this tiny miracle.
A human eye’s light-sensitive photoreceptors degenerate due to common retinal disease. Ophthalmologists treat these by implanting electrode devices in the eye to stimulate retinal neurons. Now, University of Southern California researchers are using ultrasound technology to replace electric stimulation, providing visualizations for those with vision loss.
Researchers realized that neurons activate by applying pressure to the eyes, transmitting signals to the brain. The team stimulated blind eyes via mechanical pressures generated by ultrasound waves.
The team tested their newfound ultrasonic technique by stimulating a blind rat’s eyes with high-frequency ultrasound waves, which humans cannot hear. They developed a small ultrasound device that distributes sound waves to the retinas after applying it to a specific area of the eye. The study revealed that projecting these ultrasound waves in a pattern, such as a ‘C,’ allowed the rat’s brain to visualize an identical pattern.
However, the researchers could not determine what the rat visualized during the ultrasound stimulation. So to uncover this mystery, they attached a multi-electrode array, which provided visual activity measurements from the rat’s visual cortex. The results show that the rat perceived visualizations similar to the ultrasound stimulation pattern projected to the eye.
The National Eye Institute (NET) provided a four-year, $2.3 million grant for this research. Recently, the team applied for another NET translational grant to advance their research, allowing them to test the technique via non-human primate models before conducting human trials.
The team’s ultimate goal is to produce sharper images and outfit the ultrasound transducer on a wearable contact lens. In addition, this ultrasound technology has a pending patent that could lead to improved visual impairment treatments in the future.
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