Information transmission from a retina implant to the cat visual cortex

Blind subjects with photoreceptor degeneration perceive phosphenes when their intact retinal ganglion cells are stimulated electrically. Is this approach suitable for transmitting enough information to the visual cortex for partially restoring vision? We stimulated the retina of anesthetized cats electrically and visually while recording the responses in the visual cortex. Transmission of retino-cortical information T was quantified by information theory. T was 20-160 bit/s (per stimulation and recording site) with random electrical or visual impulse stimulation at rates between 20-40/s. When we increased the spatial density of independent electrical stimulation channels T did not saturate with 7 electrodes/mm/sup 2/ retina. With 7 electrodes up to 500 bit/s was transmitted to 15 cortical recording sites. Electrical stimulation basically employs temporal stimulus patterns. They are intimately linked with intensity/contrast information coded by the spike density of retinal ganglion cells. From the cortical information spread we estimated the spatial resolution as 0.5 mm cortex corresponding to 0.5-1.0/spl deg/ visual angle. If the human cortex of blind subjects can receive and decode the information transmitted by a retina implant, our quantitative results measured in cats suggest that visuo-motor coordination and object recognition in many in- and out-door situations would be possible.