Tübingen (dapd). A novel retinal implant can restore basic Sehleistungen in blind. A light-sensitive chip provides information, which can range from letters and words to detect the brain. Scientists of the Department of ophthalmology at the University Hospital Tübingen could now for the first time show the success of the implant, which was developed in cooperation with a partner from the business world, in a study. The results of the studies reported in the University of Tübingen.

The objective is there, in blind, which rods and cones in the retina are – degenerate, for example, by the disease retinitis pigmentosa-, this lost function by a retinal implant to replace. Retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary retinal degeneration, is one of the most common causes of a blindness at a young age. The new technology is however not, according to scientists if the retina in advanced stages of retinal degeneration is heavily scarred and is no longer supplied with blood or massive damage to the optic nerve.

The electronic retinal implant, which is produced by Retina Implant AG in Reutlingen, works with 1,500 light-sensitive diodes, amplifiers and electrodes on a chip three times three millimeters wide. He turns the captured image into electrical impulses that then forwards to the brain of retinal neurons are. With this information, the brain of blind people can learn to locate sources or objects and to recognize.

There were some hurdles to overcome on the way to the development of the implant: it had to find the right materials, which are bio-friendly for humans and at the same time provide sufficient protection of sensitive electronics. Also the eye surgeons had to develop a new implant technology, which allows you to move the chip far to the rear under the retina, and at the same time to establish a cable connection to a location behind the ear for power supply and chip control.

Apparently, the efforts of the scientists were successful. The implant has been used eleven patients who had been long blind between 2 and 15 years. Actually, five of them could use the implant, light sources or large bright objects to identify and locate. One of the participants could correctly identify even unknown objects, a large clock read and recognize individual letters and words.