视网膜下人工假体植入后视网膜变化的研究进展

Research advance of retinal changes after subretinal prosthesis implantation

视网膜下人工假体是目前关于视网膜色素变性和老年性黄斑变性等视网膜外层退行变性疾病研究中的一种新的治疗方法。它旨在利用植入的微电极器替代变性的光感受器细胞,经光-电信号转换,对视网膜内层残留的双极细胞和神经节细胞产生电刺激,进而通过正常的视路在大脑视皮质诱发视觉反应,从而达到恢复视力的目的。然而视网膜下假体植入后视网膜的结构、功能及蛋白表达等可发生一些变化,有学者还发现视网膜下假体植入后一段时间内视网膜的结构和功能得到改善,推测可能有保护作用的参与,但其来源尚不完全明了。本文主要就视网膜下人工假体植入后视网膜的变化作一综述。

Retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration are major causes of blindness due to photoreceptor degeneration. Subretinal prosthesis is designed to replace the function of photoreceptor to stimulate the remaining visual pathway to evoke visual response. However, after subretinal implantation of prosthesis there are some changes found in the retina. And some authors found that the retinal structure and function were improved in a period after subretinal prosthesis implantation. They proposed that subretinal prosthesis might produce neuroprotective effects to the retina, but the sources of neuroprotection are not completely clear.