Numerical prediction of neural activation in electrically stimulated retina

Degenerative retinal diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) result in progressive loss of photoreceptor cells in the retina without completely disrupting the rest of the visual neural path. Implantable retinal prostheses have been shown to be capable of restoring some form of vision to patients affected by these conditions by providing systematic electrical stimulation to the retinal ganglion cells, thus partially replacing the functionality of the diseased photoreceptors cells. In this paper, we determine the areas where retinal ganglion cells are depolarized and hyperpolarized by the artificial electrical stimulation. This is achieved by calculating the activation function from the potential scalar field obtained using the admittance method with three-dimensional models of the retina, implanted electrode, and surrounding tissue.