Vitreous Inflammation as an Early Indicator of Retinal Ganglion Cell Loss Following Acute Optic Nerve Injury in Mice.

ABSTRACT: Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration in optic neuropathies is often preceded by neuroinflammatory changes, yet the earliest in vivo indicators of this process remain poorly defined. Here, we identified vitreous hyperreflective foci (VHRFs) by visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) as an early inflammatory signature of RGC injury. Longitudinal vis-OCT imaging after optic nerve crush (ONC) revealed that VHRFs emerged as early as 6 hours post-injury and peaked before the significant RGC loss. Confocal analysis showed that these VHRFs corresponded to activated amoeboid microglia undergoing vertical migration from the outer to inner retina and horizontal movement toward the optic nerve head area. Similar amoeboid microglia were also observed in the anterior segment, sug

SUBMITTER: Chang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12767297 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature