In a test on ten patients with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease involving retinal degeneration, vision improved significantly.

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Mr. Isacoff says technologies of this type could one day treat blinding diseases in humans such as retinitis pigmentosa.

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Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disease that causes people to slowly lose their eyesight as time goes on and eventually become blind.

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Unbeknownst to them, he had what is known as Usher Syndrome, which also causes gradual blindness due to Retinitis Pigmentosa starting at birth.

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The chip contains 1500 pixels replacing the light-receiving cells that have died in retinitis pigmentosa patients by receiving external light and then transmitting those signals directly to the brain.

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In their study, the researchers used mammalian retinas with a degeneration of photoreceptors in order to have an experimental model of different degenerative pathologies of the retina, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa or macular degeneration.

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Argus II is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to induce visual perception in blind individuals with retinitis pigmentosa and has the capacity to offer life-changing visual capabilities to those currently unable to see anything except, at best, extremely bright lights.

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