A synthetic, soft tissue retina developed by researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people. Until now, all artificial retinal research has used only rigid, hard materials.
A light-activatable 4 x 4 droplet array. Image credit: Restrepo Schild et al, doi: 10.1038/srep46585.
Just as photography depends on camera pixels reacting to light, vision relies on the retina performing the same function.
The retina sits at the back of the eye, and contains protein cells that convert light into electrical signals that travel through the nervous system, triggering a response from the brain, ultimately building a picture of the scene being viewed.
Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a Ph.D. student in the Chemistry Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford, led the team in the development of a synthetic, double layered retina which closely mimics the natural human retinal process.
The retina replica consists of soft water droplets (hydrogels) and biological cell membrane proteins.
Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image.
“The synthetic material can generate electrical signals, which stimulate the neurons at the back of our eye just like the original retina,” Restrepo-Schild said.
The study shows that unlike existing artificial retinal implants, the cell-cultures are created from natural, biodegradable materials and do not contain foreign bodies or living entities.
In this way the implant is less invasive than a mechanical devise, and is less likely to have an adverse reaction on the body.
“The human eye is incredibly sensitive, which is why foreign bodies like metal retinal implants can be so damaging, leading to inflammation and/or scaring,” said Restrepo-Schild, who is the first author of the paper reporting the results in the journal Scientific Reports.
“But a biological synthetic implant is soft and water based, so much more friendly to the eye environment.”
“I have always been fascinated by the human body, and want to prove that current technology can be used to replicate the function of human tissues, without having to actually use living cells,” she added.
“I have taken the principals behind vital bodily functions, e.g. our sense of hearing, touch and the ability to detect light, and replicated them in a laboratory environment with natural, synthetic components.”
“I hope my research is the first step in a journey towards building technology that is soft and biodegradable instead of hard and wasteful.”
The researchers now plan to test the material’s ability to recognize different colors and potentially even shapes and symbols.
Looking further ahead, the research will expand to include animal testing and then a series of clinical trials in humans.
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Vanessa Restrepo Schild et al. 2017. Light-Patterned Current Generation in a Droplet Bilayer Array. Scientific Reports 7, article number: 46585; doi: 10.1038/srep46585
This article is based on text provided by the University of Oxford.
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