Temporal structure in spiking patterns of ganglion cells defines perceptual thresholds in rodents with subretinal prosthesis.

ABSTRACT: Subretinal prostheses are designed to restore sight in patients blinded by retinal degeneration using electrical stimulation of the inner retinal neurons. To relate retinal output to perception, we studied behavioral thresholds in blind rats with photovoltaic subretinal prostheses stimulated by full-field pulsed illumination at 20 Hz, and measured retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to similar stimuli ex-vivo. Behaviorally, rats exhibited startling response to changes in brightness, with an average contrast threshold of 12%, which could not be explained by changes in the average RGC spiking rate. However, RGCs exhibited millisecond-scale variations in spike timing, even when the average rate did not change significantly. At 12% temporal contrast, changes in firing patterns of prosthetic

SUBMITTER: Ho E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5816604 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature