Biolistic Labeling of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Labeling of cellular structures is of fundamental importance in the investigation of diseases of the central nervous system. Biolistic labeling of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) allows visualization of dendritic and synaptic structures of RGCs in retinal explants from animal models of experimental glaucoma. This technique sparsely labels RGCs, and, due to the stochastic nature of the particle delivery, all RGC types can be potentially observed in the labeled tissue. Quantification of dendritic and synaptic properties permits examination of the specific alterations to RGC morphology at different stages of degeneration, such as dendritic shrinkage and excitatory synapse loss.