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Updated: Jun 20, 2026
An Optic Nerve Crush Injury Murine Model to Study Retinal Ganglion Cell Survival
Published on: April 25, 2011
Time-course of the retinal nerve fibre layer degeneration after complete intra-orbital optic nerve transection or
Guillermo Parrilla-Reverter1, Marta Agudo, Francisco Nadal-Nicolás
1Laboratorio de Oftalmología Experimental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
Abstract:
We examined qualitatively and quantitatively in adult rat retinas the temporal degeneration of the nerve fibre layer after intra-orbital optic nerve transection (IONT) or crush (IONC). Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons were identified by their heavy neurofilament subunit phosphorylated isoform (pNFH) expression. Optic nerve injury induces a progressive axonal degeneration which after IONT proceeds mainly with abnormal pNFH-accumulations in RCG axons and after IONC in RGCs somas and dendrites. Importantly, this aberrant pNFH-expression pattern starts earlier and is more dramatic after IONT than after IONC, highlighting the importance that the type of injury has on the time-course of RGC degeneration.
