title: Degenerative alterations in the visual pathway after NMDA-induced retinal damage in mice.
abstract: In the present study, intravitreal injection of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) into the left eye induced retinal damage (decreases in the number of retinal ganglion cells) at 1 day after the injection. At 7 days after the injection, atrophy of the optic tract was observed on the contralateral side, but not on the ipsilateral side. Number of neuronal nuclear specific protein (NeuN)-immunostained neurons were decreased in the contralateral dorsal LGN (dLGN) and contralateral ventral LGN-lateral (vLGN-l) at 90 and 180 days, respectively, after the injection. Furthermore, expressions of glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) were increased in the contralateral dLGN and contralateral vLGN-l at 7 and 30 days, respectively, and those of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were increased in the contralateral dLGN at 30 and 90 days and in the contralateral vLGN-l at 7 and 30 days. All NeuN-positive neuronal cells exhibited BDNF, whereas only some GFAP-positive astroglial cells exhibited BDNF. However, the contralateral ventral LGN-medial (vLGN-m) and ipsilateral LGN displayed no significant differences related to NeuN, GFAP, or BDNF immunohistochemistry. Taken together, these results indicate that time-dependent alterations occurred after the NMDA injection along the retinogeniculate pathway (from retina to LGN), and that the degree of damage in the LGN was region-dependent. In addition, the increased activated astroglial cells and expressions of BDNF in the damaged regions may play some roles in the cell-survival process of the LGN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biofunctional Evaluation, Molecular Pharmacology, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, 5-6-1 Mitahora-higashi, Gifu 502-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Masamitsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimazawa
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inokuchi
authors.forename: Hidefumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukumitsu
authors.forename: Syouei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Araie
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000209:etiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000378:metabolism; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase