The restoration of a useful visual sense in a profoundly blind person by direct electrical stimulation of the visual cortex has been a subject of study for many years. However, the field of cortically based sight restoration has made few advances in the last few decades, and many problems remain. In this context, the scientific and technological problems associated with safe and effective communication with the brain are very complex, and there are still many unresolved issues delaying its development. In this work, we review some of the biological and technical issues that still remain to be solved, including long-term biotolerability, the number of electrodes required to provide useful vision, and the delivery of information to the implants. Furthermore, we emphasize the possible role of the neuroplastic changes that follow vision loss in the success of this approach. We propose that increased collaborations among clinicians, basic researchers, and neural engineers will enhance our ability to send meaningful information to the brain and restore a limited but useful sense of vision to many blind individuals.

中文翻译：

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通过皮层内刺激与盲人大脑进行长期交流：挑战和未来前景

通过视觉皮层的直接电刺激来恢复重度失明者的有用视觉一直是多年来的研究课题。然而，基于皮质的视力恢复领域在过去的几十年里几乎没有取得什么进展，仍然存在许多问题。在此背景下，与大脑安全有效通信相关的科技问题非常复杂，还有许多未解决的问题拖延了其发展。在这项工作中，我们回顾了一些仍有待解决的生物学和技术问题，包括长期生物耐受性、提供有用视力所需的电极数量以及向植入物传递信息。此外，我们强调视力丧失后的神经可塑性变化在这种方法的成功中可能发挥的作用。我们建议临床医生、基础研究人员和神经工程师之间加强合作，将增强我们向大脑发送有意义信息的能力，并为许多盲人恢复有限但有用的视力。