Effects of subretinal implant materials on the viability, apoptosis and barrier function of cultured RPE cells

Background: Subretinal microphotodiode array (MPDA) is a type of visual prosthesis used for the implantation in the subretinal space of patients with progressive photoreceptor cell loss. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of materials for MPDA on the viability, apoptosis and barrier function of cultured pig retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells.Methods: Primary culture of pig RPE cells was performed and 24 pig eyes were used to start RPE culture. The third passage of the cultures was plated on different materials for MPDA and MPDAs. The tetrazolium dye-reduction assay (MTT) was used to determine RPE cell viability. Flow cytometry was measured to indicate the apoptosis rates of RPE cells on different materials. RPE cells were also cultured on microporous filters, and the transepithelial resistance and permeability of the experimental molecule were measured to determine the barrier function.Results: The data from all the methods indicated no significant difference between the materials groups and the control group, and the materials tested showed good biocompatibility.Conclusions: The materials for MPDA used in the present study had no direct toxicity to the RPE cells and did not release harmful soluble factors that affected the barrier function of RPE in vitro.

视网膜假体的研究进展

根据视觉假体(visual prosthesis)在视觉通路上刺激部位的不同,概括地介绍了以植入微电子芯片为主要手段的视皮层假体、视神经假体和视网膜假体的视觉修复方法,分析比较了这三种视觉假体的利弊和技术难点.重点论述了研究的热点--视网膜假体研究,介绍了从事该热点研究的两大子方向--视网膜下假体(subretinal prosthesis)和视网膜表层假体(epiretinal prosthesis)研究的主要团队的系统研制和植入实验的进展.最后讨论了视觉假体研究所面临的一些如能量供给、神经网络的模拟、器件集成、电极修饰及生物相容性封装等共性问题,充分肯定了视觉假体研究已取得的成绩并展望了其光明的研究前景.