Kristina Narfstrom, a veterinary ophthalmologist at the University of Missouri Columbia, has been working with cats to restore their sight. She has been implanting a microchip (pictured here) in the cats’ eyes to help them see. The results have been good. And that’s good news for humans because our eyes are very similar to cat eyes in size and structure. “About one in 3,500 people worldwide is affected with a hereditary disease, retinitis pigmentosa, that causes the death of retinal cells and, eventually, blindness,” Narfstrom said. “Our current study is aimed at determining safety issues in regard to the implants and to further develop surgical techniques. We also are examining the protection the implants might provide to the retinal cells that are dying due to disease progression with the hope that natural sight can be maintained much longer than would be possible in an untreated patient.”
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The microchip includes thousands of photo diodes and is two millimeters in diameter and 23 micrometers thick. Narfstrom makes tiny incisions in the covering of the eye to gain access to the interior gel, the vitreous, of the eye. It’s amazing to note that the vitreous is the only place in the body where nutrients are delivered across a transparent fluid. At least that I can think of. This allows us to have an optical organ without blood interfering with the optics. “We are really excited about the potential uses for this technology and the potential to create improved vision in some of the millions of people affected worldwide with retinal blindness,” Narfstrom said. “This technology also may be beneficial for pets that have similar diseases because this technology can benefit both animals and humans.”
Source: University of Missouri Columbia
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