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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Retrograde Labeling of Retinal Ganglion Cells by Application of Fluoro-Gold on the Surface of Superior Colliculus
Published on: June 17, 2008
Effect of CNTF on retinal ganglion cell survival in experimental glaucoma
Mary Ellen Pease1, Donald J Zack, Cynthia Berlinicke
1Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N Wolfe Street, 175 Woods Research Building, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. mpease@jhmi.edu
Purpose:
To assess the neuroprotective effect of virally mediated overexpression of ciliary-derived neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in experimental rat glaucoma.
Methods:
Laser-induced glaucoma was produced in one eye of 224 Wistar rats after injection of adenoassociated viral vectors (type 2) containing either CNTF, BDNF, or both, with saline-injected eyes and noninjected glaucomatous eyes serving as the control. IOP was measured with a hand-held tonometer, and semiautomated optic nerve axon counts were performed by masked observers. IOP exposure over time was adjusted in multivariate regression analysis to calculate the effect of CNTF and BDNF.
Results:
By multivariate regression, CNTF had a significant protective effect, with 15% less RGC axon death (P < 0.01). Both combined CNTF-BDNF and BDNF overexpression alone had no statistically significant improvement in RGC axon survival. By Western blot, there was a quantitative increase in CNTF and BDNF expression in retinas exposed to single viral vectors carrying each gene, but no increase with sequential injection of both vectors.
Conclusions:
These data confirm that CNTF can exert a protective effect in experimental glaucoma. The reason for the lack of observed effect in the BDNF overexpression groups is unclear, but it may be a function of the level of neurotrophin expression achieved.
