Orthograde axonal transport of optic nerve and injury--morphological study

To investigate the effects of injury to the orthograde axonal transport in the optic nerve, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into the vitreous of the cat eye after various types of optic nerve injury, and the retina and optic nerve were examined with light and electron microscopes 8 hours after the injection. The optic nerve was sectioned in one eye at about 6 mm behind the eyeball and the optic nerve of the contralateral eye was used as the control. HRP reaction products were frequently observed within the retinal ganglion cells and their axons of the nerve fiber layer as well as in the retrolaminar optic nerve on the experimental side, and the findings were similar to those on the control side. The optic nerve was injured by cryocoagulation for 10 seconds or 30 seconds, and ischemic changes of various degrees were induced. Intracellular and intra-axonal HRP reaction products were markedly reduced at the retrolaminar portion, and the degree of reduction depended on the duration of cryocoagulation. The section of the optic nerve had, at least in the early stage, only minimal effects on the orthograde axonal transport, but the optic nerve injury accompanied by ischemic changes markedly blocked the axonal transport in both the inner part of the retina and the optic nerve.