Sodium channel inactivation reduces retinal ganglion cell responsiveness to repetitive prosthetic stimulation

D. Tsai, J. W. Morley, G. J. Suaning, N. H. Lovell

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paperpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Several research groups are developing retinal implants for restoring sight to the profoundly blind. These devices are able to elicit simple percepts. However, recent human clinical studies have reported a frequency-dependent fading of electrically evoked percepts when stimulating at frequencies above several Hz. Studies using isolated retinas also observed a decline in RGC spiking response rate during repetitive stimulation. The mechanism(s) underlying this response rate decline could also contribute to the fading percepts in human patients. Using patch clamp recordings of rabbit retinas, we found a frequency-dependent inactivation of RGC voltage-gated sodium channels during repetitive stimulation at ≥ 50 Hz. This may have contributed to the RGC spiking response rate depression. Inhibition from the retinal network, however, did not have a significant effect on the response rate of these directly-activated RGCs.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 5th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, Cancun, Mexico, April 27 - May 1, 2011
PublisherIEEE
Pages550-553
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)9781424441402
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011
EventInternational IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering -
Duration: 6 Nov 2013 → …

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Print)1948-3546

Conference

ConferenceInternational IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering
Period6/11/13 → …

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