Abstract
The restoration of light response with complex spatiotemporal features in retinal degenerative diseases towards retinal prosthesis has proven to be a considerable challenge over the past decades. Herein, inspired by the structure and function of photoreceptors in retinas, we develop artificial photoreceptors based on gold nanoparticle-decorated titania nanowire arrays, for restoration of visual responses in the blind mice with degenerated photoreceptors. Green, blue and near UV light responses in the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are restored with a spatial resolution better than 100 µm. ON responses in RGCs are blocked by glutamatergic antagonists, suggesting functional preservation of the remaining retinal circuits. Moreover, neurons in the primary visual cortex respond to light after subretinal implant of nanowire arrays. Improvement in pupillary light reflex suggests the behavioral recovery of light sensitivity. Our study will shed light on the development of a new generation of optoelectronic toolkits for subretinal prosthetic devices.
Highlights
The restoration of light response with complex spatiotemporal features in retinal degenerative diseases towards retinal prosthesis has proven to be a considerable challenge over the past decades
With NW arrays subretinally implanted into blind mice, light-evoked activities in the primary visual cortex (V1) in vivo, as well as improved pupillary light reflex (PLR) in awake-behaving mice confirm the recovery of visual function 4–8 weeks after implant surgery, indicating the potential of using NW arrays as subretinal prosthetic devices
The oriented Au–TiO2 NW arrays were grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO, Supplementary Fig. 1) or flexible polymer substrates (Supplementary Fig. 2) by a hydrothermal method[26,27], followed by in-situ reduction of gold salt on the surface of preformed TiO2 NW arrays (Methods)
Summary
The restoration of light response with complex spatiotemporal features in retinal degenerative diseases towards retinal prosthesis has proven to be a considerable challenge over the past decades. Developing light-responsive materials as artificial photoreceptors for interfacing with blind retinas has emerged as a promising alternative for retinal prosthesis, with several exciting preliminary demonstrations using metal electrode arrays[14], cadmium sulfidecarbon nanotubes[15], semiconductor silicon photodiodes[16] or conducting polymers[17,18,19]. These photoresponsive devices require additional microelectronic processing for signal generation, transduction and processing, posting limitations for in vivo applications. With NW arrays subretinally implanted into blind mice, light-evoked activities in the primary visual cortex (V1) in vivo, as well as improved pupillary light reflex (PLR) in awake-behaving mice confirm the recovery of visual function 4–8 weeks after implant surgery, indicating the potential of using NW arrays as subretinal prosthetic devices
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