An in-silicoanalysis of retinal electric field distribution induced by different electrode design of trans-corneal electrical stimulation.

Objective.Trans-corneal electrical stimulation (TcES) produces therapeutic effects on many ophthalmic diseases non-invasively. Existing clinical TcES devices use largely variable design of electrode distribution and stimulation parameters. Better understanding of how electrode configuration paradigms and stimulation parameters influence the electric field distribution on the retina, will be beneficial to the design of next-generation TcES devices.Approach.In this study, we constructed a realistic finite element human head model with fine eyeball structure. Commonly used DTL-Plus and ERG-Jet electrodes were simulated. We then conductedin silicoinvestigations of retina observation surface (ROS) electric field distributions induced by different return electrode configuration paradigms and different stimulus intensities.Main results.Our results suggested that the ROS electric field distribution could be modulated by re-designing TcES electrode settings and stimulus parameters. Under far return location paradigms, either DTL-Plus or ERG-Jet approach could induce almost identical ROS electric field distribution regardless where the far return was located. However, compared with the ERG-Jet mode, DTL-Plus stimulation induced stronger nasal lateralization. In contrast, ERG-Jet stimulation induced relatively stronger temporal lateralization. The ROS lateralization can be further tweaked by changing the DTL-Plus electrode length.Significance.These results may contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of DTL-Plus and ERG-Jet electrodes based electric field distribution on the retina, providing practical implications for the therapeutic application of TcES.

A Three-Dimensional Microelectrode Array to Generate Virtual Electrodes for Epiretinal Prosthesis Based on a Modeling Study.

Despite many advances in the development of retinal prostheses, clinical reports show that current retinal prosthesis subjects can only perceive prosthetic vision with poor visual acuity. A possible approach for improving visual acuity is to produce virtual electrodes (VEs) through electric field modulation. Generating controllable and localized VEs is a crucial factor in effectively improving the perceptive resolution of the retinal prostheses. In this paper, we aimed to design a microelectrode array (MEA) that can produce converged and controllable VEs by current steering stimulation strategies. Through computational modeling, we designed a three-dimensional concentric ring-disc MEA and evaluated its performance with different stimulation strategies. Our simulation results showed that electrode-retina distance (ERD) and inter-electrode distance (IED) can dramatically affect the distribution of electric field. Also the converged VEs could be produced when the parameters of the three-dimensional MEA were appropriately set. VE sites can be controlled by manipulating the proportion of current on each adjacent electrode in a current steering group (CSG). In addition, spatial localization of electrical stimulation can be greatly improved under quasi-monopolar (QMP) stimulation. This study may provide support for future application of VEs in epiretinal prosthesis for potentially increasing the visual acuity of prosthetic vision.

Comparison of cortical responses to the activation of retina by visual stimulation and transcorneal electrical stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Electrical stimulation has been widely used in many ophthalmic diseases to modulate neuronal activities or restore partial visual function. Due to the different processing pathways and mechanisms, responses to visual and electrical stimulation in the primary visual cortex and higher visual areas might be different. This differences would shed some light on the properties of cortical responses evoked by electrical stimulation. OBJECTIVE: This study's goal was to directly compare the cortical responses evoked by visual and electrical stimulation and investigate the cortical processing of visual information and extrinsic electrical signal. METHODS: Optical imaging of intrinsic signals (OIS) was used to probe the cortical hemodynamic responses in 11 cats. Transcorneal electrical stimulation (TES) through an ERG-jet contact lens electrode was used to activate visual cortices. Full-field and peripheral drifting gratings were used as the visual stimuli. RESULTS: The response latency evoked by TES was shorter than that responding to visual stimulation (VS). Cortical responses evoked by VS were retinotopically organized, which was consistent with previous studies. On the other hand, the cortical region activated by TES was preferentially located in the secondary visual cortex (Area 18), while the primary visual cortex (Area 17) was activated by a higher current intensity. Compared with the full-field VS, the cortical response in Area 18 to TES with a current intensity above 1.2 mA was significantly stronger. CONCLUSION: According to our results, we provided some evidence that the cortical processing of TES was influenced by the distribution of the electrical field in the retina and the activating threshold of different retinal ganglion cells.

An optimized content-aware image retargeting method: toward expanding the perceived visual field of the high-density retinal prosthesis recipients.

OBJECTIVE: Retinal prosthesis devices have shown great value in restoring some sight for individuals with profoundly impaired vision, but the visual acuity and visual field provided by prostheses greatly limit recipients' visual experience. In this paper, we employ computer vision approaches to seek to expand the perceptible visual field in patients implanted potentially with a high-density retinal prosthesis while maintaining visual acuity as much as possible. APPROACH: We propose an optimized content-aware image retargeting method, by introducing salient object detection based on color and intensity-difference contrast, aiming to remap important information of a scene into a small visual field and preserve their original scale as much as possible. It may improve prosthetic recipients' perceived visual field and aid in performing some visual tasks (e.g. object detection and object recognition). To verify our method, psychophysical experiments, detecting object number and recognizing objects, are conducted under simulated prosthetic vision. As control, we use three other image retargeting techniques, including Cropping, Scaling, and seam-assisted shrinkability. MAIN RESULTS: Results show that our method outperforms in preserving more key features and has significantly higher recognition accuracy in comparison with other three image retargeting methods under the condition of small visual field and low-resolution. SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed method is beneficial to expand the perceived visual field of prosthesis recipients and improve their object detection and recognition performance. It suggests that our method may provide an effective option for image processing module in future high-density retinal implants.

Negative hemodynamic response without neuronal inhibition investigated by combining optical imaging and electrophysiological recording.

Understanding the mechanisms underlying negative hemodynamic responses is critical for the interpretation of functional brain imaging signals. Negative imaging signals have been found in the visual, somatosensory and motor cortices in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI) studies. However, the origin of negative imaging signals is still controversial. The present study investigated the visual cortical responses to peripheral grating stimuli using multi-wavelength ISOI and electrophysiological recording. We found an increased cerebral blood volume (CBV) in the stimulus-induced regions and a decreased CBV in the adjacent regions in the visual cortex. Nevertheless, there was no significant change in blood oxygenation in the negative CBV regions. Furthermore, by combining the planar and laminar electrophysiological recordings, we did not observe significantly decreased neuronal activity in the negative CBV regions. Our results suggest that the negative hemodynamic response does not necessarily originate in decreased neuronal activity. Therefore, caution should be taken when interpreting a negative hemodynamic response as neuronal inhibition.