{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T13:12:19Z","timestamp":1788354739294,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1659571200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Optometry"},{"name":"Johannes Kepler University Linz"},{"name":"Finanzbuchhaltung University"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Millions of people worldwide are diagnosed with retinal dystrophies such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. A retinal prosthesis using organic photovoltaic (OPV) semiconductors is a promising therapeutic device to restore vision to patients at the late onset of the disease. However, an appropriate cytotoxicity approach has to be employed on the OPV materials before using them as retinal implants. In this study, we followed ISO standards to assess the cytotoxicity of D18, Y6, PFN-Br and PDIN individually, and as mixtures of D18\/Y6, D18\/Y6\/PFN-Br and D18\/Y6\/PDIN. These materials were proven for their high performance as organic solar cells. Human RPE cells were put in direct and indirect contact with these materials to analyze their cytotoxicity by the MTT assay, apoptosis by flow cytometry, and measurements of cell morphology and proliferation by immunofluorescence. We also assessed electrophysiological recordings on mouse retinal explants via microelectrode arrays (MEAs) coated with D18\/Y6. In contrast to PFN-Br and PDIN, all in vitro experiments show no cytotoxicity of D18 and Y6 alone or as a D18\/Y6 mixture. We conclude that D18\/Y6 is safe to be subsequently investigated as a retinal prosthesis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23158666","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T21:52:48Z","timestamp":1659649968000},"page":"8666","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["In Vitro Cytotoxicity of D18 and Y6 as Potential Organic Photovoltaic Materials for Retinal Prostheses"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Ana","family":"Cetkovic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Medical Research, University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Optometry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3375-9940","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Bellapianta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Medical Research, University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Optometry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mihai","family":"Irimia-Vladu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Linz Institute of Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jakob","family":"Hofinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Linz Institute of Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7207-1121","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cigdem","family":"Yumusak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Linz Institute of Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Corna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomedical Electronics, Technische Universit\u00e4t (TU) Wien, 1040 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markus Clark","family":"Scharber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Linz Institute of Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"G\u00fcnther","family":"Zeck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomedical Electronics, Technische Universit\u00e4t (TU) Wien, 1040 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4727-1193","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Niyazi Serdar","family":"Sariciftci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Linz Institute of Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthias","family":"Bolz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Medical Research, University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Optometry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7678-0125","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmad","family":"Salti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Medical Research, University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Optometry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1016\/j.preteyeres.2018.03.005","article-title":"Non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa","volume":"66","author":"Verbakel","year":"2018","journal-title":"Prog. 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