Optic Nerve Crush Does Not Induce Retinal Ganglion Cell Loss in the Contralateral Eye.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Optic nerve crush (ONC) is a model for studying optic nerve trauma. Unilateral ONC induces massive retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration in the affected eye, leading to vision loss within a month. A common assumption has been that the non-injured contralateral eye is unaffected due to the minimal retino-retinal projections of the RGCs at the chiasm. Yet, recently, microglia, the brain-resident macrophages, have shown a responsive phenotype in the contralateral eye after ONC. Whether RGC loss accompanies this phenotype is still controversial.

Methods

Using the available RGCode algorithm and developing our own RGC-Quant deep-learning-based tool, we quantify RGC's total number and density across the entire retina after ONC.

Results

We confirm a short-term micr

SUBMITTER: Schoot Uiterkamp FE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11951053 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature