????50多年前，當喬治斯還是個18歲的小伙子時，不幸患上了色素性視網(wǎng)膜炎。他被告知視力將逐漸退化，直至全盲。不出所料，到了50多歲時，他的世界變得完全漆黑一片。但是去年，就在一個按鈕被按下的瞬間，喬治斯突然重新見到了光明。他驚呼道：“當他們通上電以后，感覺真的就像煙花表演一樣?！?/p>

????這款神奇的產(chǎn)品名叫Iris系統(tǒng)，旨在幫助盲人恢復視力。它是由一家名叫Pixium Vision，成立沒多久的法國企業(yè)開發(fā)的，喬治斯正是首批試驗該設備的病人之一。該公司的創(chuàng)始人伯納德?吉利原本是一位科學家，旗下?lián)碛卸嗉抑铝τ诶每萍迹ù蠖鄧@神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)）改善人體健康的企業(yè)。

????吉利指出：“眼科是研究人體中樞視經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的一個好途徑，因為眼睛、特別是視網(wǎng)膜，就像是大腦的一個可見部分。”他指出，法國有約20萬人處于全盲或接近全盲，而且基本上是沒法治愈的?！昂芏嗳瞬涣私膺@種情況有多普遍，這是因為我們在街上看不到很多盲人，因為他們在室外容易發(fā)生事故，所以他們傾向于待在家里?！?/p>

????吉利表示，微生物學與微電子學等領域的技術進步，為盲人復明帶來了新的希望。另外科學家也付出了大量努力來理解大腦的工作機制。我們很久以前就知道電流可以刺激人的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，另外，我們已經(jīng)開始使用一種叫做“神經(jīng)調節(jié)”的技術來治療帕金森癥和各種慢性疼痛。現(xiàn)在，這項技術也能治療眼盲了。

????最適合使用Iris的是那些患有退化性眼病的患者。醫(yī)生向患者的視網(wǎng)膜內植入一塊帶有150個電極的微小芯片。手術后，患者需要戴上一副專用的墨鏡，其中的集成攝像機可以向一臺微型便攜電腦傳送圖像。這臺電腦隨后把圖像轉換成數(shù)字信號，回傳到墨鏡上，然后再無線傳輸至植入芯片的接收器上。電子脈沖會激活電極，人的視神經(jīng)便會將圖像傳送到大腦。

????在接受手術后，患者需要參加一個康復項目，以教會他們的大腦如何解讀這些新的圖像。他們所見到的只是一些黑白灰色的基本形狀。（這套解決方案目前尚不能讓患者重新閱讀或識別面部特征。）

????亞尼克?拉?梅爾已經(jīng)將這套系統(tǒng)植入三名測試者的眼球中。他表示：“我們沒有讓他們重獲視力，但提供了另一種讓他們看見的辦法?！崩?梅爾表示，目前無法知道每名患者的反應如何，因為它取決于每個大腦的適應性——就像學鋼琴或學日語一樣，有的人學得很快，但也有人學得非常慢。

????More than half a century ago, when he was just 18 years old, Georges* learned that he had retinitis pigmentosa. He was told that his vision would progressively deteriorate until he was blind. As predicted, when Georges reached his early fifties, his world went completely dark. Last year, at the push of a button, Georges suddenly saw light again. “When they got the electrodes going, it was a real fireworks show,” he exclaims.

????Georges is part of a pilot program testing Iris, a product to restore vision to blind people, made by a young French company called Pixium Vision. The company’s founder, Bernard Gilly, is a scientist-turned-entrepreneur with a network of businesses focused on using technologies to improve human health, mostly around the nervous system.

????“Ophthalmology seemed like a good way to approach the central nervous system because the eye, and especially the retina, is like a visible part of the brain,” Gilly says, noting that France counts 200,000 people in the country who are blind or nearly blind, and that generally there is no cure. “People are unaware of how prevalent the condition is because there are not many blind people in the streets. They are more prone to accidents, so they tend to stay home.”

????Technological advances such as microbiology and microelectronics are creating new opportunities to restore sight, Gilly says, and scientists are making enormous strides in understanding the workings of the brain. It’s long been known that electricity can stimulate the nervous system, and a technique called “neuromodulation” is being used to address everything from Parkinson’s disease to chronic pain. Now, it can treat blindness, too.

????The best candidates for Iris are patients with degenerative eye conditions. A surgeon implants a tiny silicon chip with 150 electrodes on the retina. Afterwards, the patient wears a pair of dark glasses with an integrated video camera that sends images to a portable mini-computer. This computer transforms the pictures into digital signals, which are sent back to the glasses, then transmitted wirelessly to a receiver on the implant. Pulses activate the electrodes, and the optic nerve carries the images to the brain.

????After surgery, patients follow a program of rehabilitation to teach their brains how to interpret these new images. What they see is basic shapes in variations of black, white, and gray. (The resolution is still too low for them to distinguish facial features or read.)

????“We don’t give them back their sight, but another way of seeing,” says Yannick Le Mer, the surgeon who implanted the system in three of Pixium’s test subjects. Le Mer says it is impossible to know beforehand how anyone will react, since it depends on each brain’s adaptability—like learning to play the piano or speak Japanese. Some catch on immediately, while others struggle.