Differential Susceptibility of Rat Retinal Ganglion Cells Following Optic Nerve Crush

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are a heterogeneous group of cells, comprised of numerous subpopulations, that work together to send visual information to the brain. In numerous blinding disorders termed optic neuropathies, RGCs are the main cell type affected leading to degeneration of these cells and eventual loss of vision. Previous studies have identified and characterized RGC subtypes in numerous animal systems, with only a handful of studies demonstrating their differential loss in response to disease and injury. Thus, efforts of the current study utilized an optic nerve crush (ONC) model to characterize the loss of RGCs and disease phenotypes associated with this injury. Additionally, the loss of RGC subtypes including direction selective-, alpha-, and ip-RGCs following ONC was explored. Results of this study demonstrated the differential loss of RGC subtypes with a high susceptibility for loss of alpha- and direction selective-RGCs and the preferential survival of ip-RGCs following ONC and allows for the establishment of additional studies focused on mechanisms and loss of these cells in optic neuropathies. Additionally, these results put important emphasis on the development of therapeutics targeted at the loss of specific subtypes as well as cellular replacement following injury and disease.