Corneal lesions can cause a decrease in human visual acuity, and in severe cases, may even lead to blindness. According to statistics, millions of people worldwide are blind due to corneal diseases. Corneal transplantation is an effective method for treating this type of disease, but due to limited corneal donors, only about 1/70 of patients can undergo corneal transplantation in a timely manner, and most patients can only wait in the dark. In recent years, in order to alleviate the shortage of corneal donors, researchers have developed various types of artificial corneas. Among them, the Boston type artificial cornea has been extensively studied and has been applied in clinical treatment. Although these artificial corneas can undertake some functions such as protection and light refraction of the human primary cornea, they do not have tactile perception ability and cannot achieve corneal reflection. Therefore, developing a sensory artificial intelligence cornea is of great significance for solving the shortage of corneal donors and treating corneal diseases. Recently, Professor Xu Wentao's team from the School of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering at Nankai University designed and conceptualized a sensory artificial intelligence cornea, bringing it closer to the human primary cornea. The research findings were recently published in the international journal Nature Communications. The cornea is like the lens of the eye, appearing thin and transparent as a refractive medium, and light can only enter the interior of the eye through the cornea. Meanwhile, as the external barrier of the eye, external substances entering the eye must also pass through the cornea. Therefore, a healthy cornea can protect the eyes from external substances. In addition, the cornea is one of the most densely populated parts of the body's nerves. When external substances touch the cornea, it can cause involuntary eyelid closure reflex (corneal reflex), which causes bilateral orbicularis oculi muscle contraction and bilateral blinking movements. "Corneal reflex can be used for clinical diagnosis to help doctors confirm the condition of patients with facial paralysis and other conditions." Xu Wentao introduced that when the cornea is healthy, the eyelids of the examinee will quickly close, leading to direct corneal reflex; If one side of the cornea is stimulated and there is also an eyelid closure reaction on the opposite side, it is called indirect corneal reflex. In recent years, Xu Wentao has led a team focused on the field of flexible neurobiomimetic electronics, achieving a series of original achievements in the fields of flexible artificial perception and motor nerves, digital controllable printing of neuromorphic electronic devices and materials. This includes proposing the concept and developing the international first artificial tactile afferent nerve, proposing and developing the first artificial efferent nerve that can switch and control artificial muscles, and developing a complete multimodal artificial reflex arc. On the basis of these achievements, the team has carried out technological research on the key scientific issue of artificial corneal sensory remodeling. The team designed and conceptualized an artificial intelligence cornea that reconstructs the "native sensation" through an artificial reflex arc. The reflective arc utilizes sensor oscillation circuits, zinc tin oxide (ZTO) fiber based artificial synapses, and electrochromic devices as sensors, processing cores, and effectors, achieving encoding of external mechanical and light stimuli, information processing, and adjustment of transmitted light. We use vibration sensor oscillation circuits and light sensor oscillation circuits to perceive external mechanical and optical information, respectively, and encode them into electrical pulse signals that can be read by artificial synapses. The pulse signals are input to the artificial synapses for processing, and then output to the electrochromator
Edit：Hu Sen Ming Responsible editor：Li Xi
Source：people.com.cn
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