Nanotechnology can aid the development of retinal prostheses, allowing patients who have gone blind to recover a better form of vision than is available with today’s prostheses. A retinal prosthesis can replace dead photoreceptor cells by electrically stimulating the remaining neurons. Two current examples include digital camera-type electrode arrays and photodiode arrays, but both need external batteries, have low sensitivity and poor biocompatibility. Research groups in several countries are working to improve these prostheses. The European Commission is, instead, looking to new types of nanotransducers, which are electric devices that convert energy from one form to another, based on artificial nanocrystalline diamond. Coating the prosthesis in the diamond results in a semiconductor that shows stability, biocompatibility, and allows for improving resolution from 60 pixels, where only shapes and colors can be seen, to 1000 pixels. The project, DREAMS, has tested the prosthesis on retinal cells, but no clinical trials have been conducted. Although much work remains before any of these prostheses would be available to patients, the achievements thus far mean that thousands of people, in the not too distant future, could be offered the possibility of recovering an improved form of vision.
http://www.youris.com/Nano/Medicine/Nanosized_Diamonds_Restoring_A_Useful_Vision.kl