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Artificial Vision 2017

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

01.12. - 02.12.2017, Aachen

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Design of model artificial organic photoreceptors for photo-electrical stimulation of neuronal cells

Meeting Abstract

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  • Manuela Schiek - Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • O.S. Abdullaeva - Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • F. Balzer - University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • M. Schulz - Kekule Institute for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  • A. Luetzen - Kekule Institute for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  • J. Parisi - Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • K. Dedek - Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

Artificial Vision 2017. Aachen, 01.-02.12.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. Doc17artvis38

doi: 10.3205/17artvis39, urn:nbn:de:0183-17artvis394

Published: November 30, 2017

© 2017 Schiek et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Objective: Perspectively, we intend to develop an artificial photoreceptor based on organic materials for retinal prosthetic devices. Currently, we aim to elucidate the stimulation mechanism on a cellular model system.

Materials and Methods: We conduct electrophysiological patch clamp recordings on murine neuroblastoma (N2A) cells grown on a textured small molecular organic semiconductor thin film with optional dielectric coating under physiological conditions. The cellular response to stimulation with short light pulses is investigated. Additionally, we monitor the stability and morphological changes of the artificial photoreceptor in physiological environment under illuminated conditions by atomic force microscopy.

Results: Photoexcitation of the system with short light pulses stimulated fast capacitive transmembrane currents in the N2A cells. The electrical coupling between the artificial photoreceptor and the neuronal cells was fast and direct, but still was only of passive nature.

Discussion: We discuss the impact of variation in artificial photoreceptor architecture especially focusing organic semiconductor morphology additional dielectric coating.

Acknowledgement: The DFG supports the project through the RTG training group 1885 “Molecular Basis of Sensory Biology”.