Neural code device offers vision hopes

Researchers have deciphered the neural code of a mouse retina and used the information to create a prosthetic device to restore the sight of blind mice.

Having also cracked the code of a monkey retina, the scientists were working towards a test and device for human trials.

The research at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, which has been reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was described as a 'remarkable advance in longstanding efforts to restore vision'.

'This is the first prosthetic that has the potential to provide normal or near-normal vision because it incorporates the (neural) code,' said lead researcher Dr Sheila Nirenberg. The neural code is the electrical signal that allows the brain to convert impulses in nerves into a perceived image.