gms | German Medical Science

Artificial Vision 2019

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

13.12. - 14.12.2019, Aachen

Dynamics of pupillary responses to sinusoidal transcorneal electrostimulation in healthy subjects – Effects of stimulus frequency

Meeting Abstract

  • Ronja Jung - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D; University Eye Hospital, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • K. Stingl - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • K. Stingl - University Eye Hospital, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • C. Kelbsch - University Eye Hospital, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • H. Wilhelm - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • T. Peters - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • B. Wilhelm - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • T. Strasser - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D; University Eye Hospital, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D
  • P. Richter - Pupil Research Group, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen/D

Artificial Vision 2019. Aachen, 13.-14.12.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2019. Doc19artvis25

doi: 10.3205/19artvis25, urn:nbn:de:0183-19artvis251

Veröffentlicht: 10. Dezember 2019

© 2019 Jung et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

Objective: The purpose of this project was to evaluate the potential of electrically-induced pupil responses as an objective parameter for the function of retinal neurons. In particular, the pupillary reactions to diverse stimulation frequencies were analyzed to investigate the possibility of cell-specific activation.

Materials and methods: Twelve healthy participants were recruited to examine pupillary responses to sinusoidal transcorneal electrostimulation. The stimuli consisted of a 1.2 Hz sinusoidal envelope which was superimposed on variable carrier frequencies (4–30 Hz) and were delivered to one eye. Consensual pupillary reactions were recorded from the contralateral eye via infrared pupillography. The dynamics of pupillary constrictions were measured and differences between frequencies were evaluated.

Results: Pupillary oscillations were acquired in all subjects. The response delay reached local minima at 6–8 and 26 Hz. Correspondingly, response amplitudes and cross-correlation to light-induced oscillations peaked at 6 and 22–26 Hz. However, the changes were statistically not significant.

Discussion: Considering previous findings on frequency preferences of retinal neurons, divergences of pupillary reactions and perceptual reports suggest that certain cell types were activated more efficiently by distinct wavelengths, even if the actual differences were weak. However, this assumption needs to be validated in patients with specific retinal diseases.