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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience pp 1–3Cite as

Vision Prosthesis

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Synonyms

Artificial retina; Artificial vision; Bionic eye; Intraocular retinal prosthesis; Retinal chip; Retinal prosthesis

Definition

An electronic system, usually comprised of external and implanted components, that can sense light, convert light to an electronic signal, and apply that signal to the retina, as a treatment for blindness secondary to photoreceptor loss.

Introduction

In a healthy retina, light is detected by photoreceptors (rods and cones) via photosensitive molecules in the outer segments of the photoreceptors. These molecules, once transformed by light, trigger a cascade of neurochemical events that lead to other neural cells in the retina (ganglion cells), sending signals to the downstream visual centers of the brain. Retinal degenerative diseases, like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, affect primarily photoreceptors, leaving the retina unable to sense light, but remaining neurons in the retina (bipolar cells and ganglion cells) can be...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    James Weiland

Authors
  1. James Weiland
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Weiland .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Weiland, J. (2014). Vision Prosthesis. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_563-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_563-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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