In a groundbreaking scientific breakthrough, a brain implant gives a blind woman artificial vision.AURORA FIND INTERSTING SCINTIFIC DISCOVERYS AND TECHNOLOGY RELATED ARTICLES

 In a groundbreaking scientific breakthrough, a brain implant gives a blind woman artificial vision.

For the first time in 16 years, a blind lady was able to sense two-dimensional objects and letters thanks to a 'visual prosthesis' implanted directly into her brain.

The researchers behind this incredible advancement in optical prosthesis recently published the results of their trials, revealing insights that potentially transform how we assist folks who have lost their vision see again.

Berna Gomez was diagnosed with toxic optic neuropathy at the age of 42, a dangerous medical illness that quickly damaged the optic nerves that connect her eyes to her brain.

The features of Gomez' two children and husband had dissolved into darkness in just a few days, and her career as a science teacher had come to an abrupt end.

Then, in 2018, at the age of 57, Gomez took a risky step. She agreed to be the first person in the world to have a small electrode with a hundred microneedles implanted into her visual cortex. The prototype would be around the size of a cent, measuring 4 mm by 4 mm, and would be removed after six months.

Unlike retinal implants, which are being investigated as a way of artificially stimulating nerves exiting the retina with light, the Moran Cortivis Prosthesis fully skips the eye and optic nerve, going right to the source of visual experience.

Following surgeries in Spain to implant the device, Gomez spent the following six months in the lab for four hours every day to undergo tests and training with the new prosthesis.

The first two months were spent mostly teaching Gomez to distinguish between the spontaneous pinpricks of light she still perceives in her head and the patches of light caused by direct stimulation of her prosthesis.

Researchers may then begin providing her with genuine visual obstacles after she had mastered this.

Gomez described seeing a phosphene, or a prick of light, when an electrode in her prosthesis was triggered. The point of light might be brighter or more faded, a white hue or more of a sepia tone, depending on the intensity of the stimulation.

Gomez found it simpler to notice light spots when more than two electrodes were triggered at the same time. Some of the stimulation patterns resembled tightly spaced dots, while others resembled horizontal lines.

"I see something!" exclaims the narrator. In 2018, Gomez shouted after noticing a white line in her brain.

Vertical lines were the most difficult for researchers to create, but at the conclusion of the training, Gomez was able to distinguish between horizontal and vertical patterns with 100 percent accuracy.

"In addition, when we increased the distance between the stimulating electrodes, the individual reported that the percepts had more elongated forms," the scientists wrote in their research.

"This implies that the size and appearance of the phosphene is determined not only by the number of electrodes activated, but also by their spatial distribution... "

Given these encouraging results, the final month of the study was dedicated to seeing if Gomez could'see' letters with her prosthesis.

Gomez was able to accurately recognise various letters including I, L, C, V, and O when up to 16 electrodes were concurrently stimulated in varied patterns. She could even tell the difference between a capital and a lowercase o.

The stimulation patterns required for the remainder of the alphabet are unknown, but the findings imply that the way we activate neurons in the brain with electrodes may produce two-dimensional pictures.

Gomez wore special spectacles with a small video camera installed in them for the final phase of the experiment. This camera scanned items in front of her and then used the prosthesis to trigger different combinations of electrodes in her brain, resulting in primitive visual pictures.

Gomez was eventually able to distinguish between the contrasting boundaries of black and white bars on cardboard thanks to the glasses. She could even pinpoint the location of a huge white square on a computer screen's left or right side. Gomez improved her speed as she trained.

The results are promising, but they only include a single person over a six-month period. This prototype will need to be tested on a much larger number of patients for much longer lengths of time before it can be used in clinical settings.

The same microelectrode arrays, known as Utah Electrode Arrays, have been implanted into other areas of the brain to assist control mechanical limbs in previous experiments, so we know they're safe in the short term. However, the technology is still in its early stages, and it faces a rapid decline in functionality after only a few months of use.

While engineers work to improve the devices' dependability, we still need to figure out how to develop the software that analyses the visual input.

A similar gadget was implanted into a deeper section of the visual brain by Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston last year. The scientists discovered that the gadget helped blind persons draw the outlines of basic letters like W, S, and Z among five study participants, three of whom were sighted and two of whom were blind.

There was no indication of neuronal death, epileptic convulsions, or other negative side effects in Gomez's case, which is a favourable sign and implies microstimulation may be used safely to restore functional vision, even in patients who have irreparable retinal or optic nerve injury.

"One objective of our research is to allow a blind person more movement," says University of Utah bioengineer Richard Normann.

"It might make it simple for them to recognise a person, a doorway, or an automobile. It has the potential to promote independence and safety. That's the goal we're aiming for."

Right now, it appears that visual prosthesis can only restore a very basic kind of vision, but the more we learn about the brain and these devices in blind and sighted individuals, the better we will be able to figure out how particular stimulation patterns might reproduce more complex visual pictures.

Because of what Gomez has accomplished, other patients may be able to trace the entire alphabet with this prosthesis in the future. Four other patients have already expressed interest in using the gadget.

Gomez remarked in a statement a few years ago, "I know I'm blind, and I'll always be blind."

"However, I believed that in the future, I could be able to assist others. That's how I feel now."

For her expertise and hard effort, Gomez's name is placed as a co-author on the publication.

Journal of Clinical Investigation published the findings.