Transparent microfluidic MEAs with organic electronic ion pumps for in vitro studies of the pathological retina

Inhalt:
Being able to pursue a vocation that fulfills you and creates meaning can have enormous positive effects on people's psyche and be conducive to self-confidence. For blind people, everyday processes can pose great challenges. Worldwide one out of 4000 persons suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a hereditary eye disease where photoreceptors degenerate which ultimately leads to blindness. Different technical methods for the restoration of vision such as sub-retinal or epiretinal implants, and gene therapies including delivery of a healthy gene copy, optogenetics or stem cell approaches were described. In particular for the implant methods, the underlying effects and functional as well as morphological changes of the retina during RP progression need to be studied in more detail. Towards this aim, we developed in this work a microelectrode array (MEA) that includes microfluidics and organic electronic ion pumps to electronically and biochemically interface explanted retinae. We present the fabrication process of the multifunctional MEA platform and basic characterizations. Ex vivo experiments on mouse retinae are planned to test the full functionality of the platform.