Study on retinal ganglion cell apoptosis after explosive injury of eyeballs in rabbits.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the pathological changes of retinal ganglion cell apoptosis and its relation to the value of glutamate concentration in vitreous body after explosive injury of eyeballs in the rabbits.


METHODS
Similar explosive injury models of eyeballs in 10 adult grey rabbits were made. The rabbits were killed on scheduled time. The retinal tissues of studied eyes and control eyes were obtained for the pathological examination with TUNEL method respectively. The value of glutamate in vitreum of injured eyes was measured and was compared with that of contralateral eyes. Statistical comparison analysis on the experiment data was performed.


RESULTS
The value of glutamate in vitreum of injured eyes was significantly higher than that of contralateral eyes in all rabbits in the study. A lot of TUNEL positive cells were observed in the injured eyes. It suggested that apoptosis of the retinal ganglion cells took place.


CONCLUSIONS
We speculate that apoptosis of the retinal ganglion cells is perhaps among the causes resulting in damage of visual function after explosive injury of eyeballs and that the increasing of the value of glutamate in vitreum possibly associated with apoptosis of the retinal ganglion cells.
Department of Ophthalmology, General Hospital of PLA Nanjing Command, Clinical School of Medical College of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Suihua
S
Chen
Zhenping
Z
Huang
Lili
L
Wang
Tao
T
Jiang
Bo
B
Wu
Guiqin
G
Sun
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D011817:Rabbits; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000378:metabolism
D018698:Glutamic Acid