title: An optic nerve crush injury murine model to study retinal ganglion cell survival.
abstract: Injury to the optic nerve can lead to axonal degeneration, followed by a gradual death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which results in irreversible vision loss. Examples of such diseases in human include traumatic optic neuropathy and optic nerve degeneration in glaucoma. It is characterized by typical changes in the optic nerve head, progressive optic nerve degeneration, and loss of retinal ganglion cells, if uncontrolled, leading to vision loss and blindness. The optic nerve crush (ONC) injury mouse model is an important experimental disease model for traumatic optic neuropathy, glaucoma, etc. In this model, the crush injury to the optic nerve leads to gradual retinal ganglion cells apoptosis. This disease model can be used to study the general processes and mechanisms of neuronal death and survival, which is essential for the development of therapeutic measures. In addition, pharmacological and molecular approaches can be used in this model to identify and test potential therapeutic reagents to treat different types of optic neuropathy. Here, we provide a step by step demonstration of (I) Baseline retrograde labeling of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) at day 1, (II) Optic nerve crush injury at day 4, (III) Harvest the retinae and analyze RGC survival at day 11, and (IV) Representative result.
authors.affiliation: National Eye Institute, NIH, USA.
authors.forename: Zhongshu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Shuihua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chunsik
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Pachiappan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arjunan
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xuri
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D020221:Optic Nerve Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes