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Optic nerve head: A gatekeeper for vitreous infectious insults?
Wenwen Lai1,2, Jie Huang1,3, Wangyi Fang4
1Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Visual Impairment and Restoration, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Frontiers in Immunology
|October 7, 2022
Summary
The optic nerve head (ONH) acts as a barrier against vitreous inflammation. Intravitreal lipopolysaccharides (LPS) caused ONH astrocyte changes and immune pathway activation, protecting the central nervous system.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Immunology
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- The optic nerve head (ONH) is a critical interface between the eye and the central nervous system.
- Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons traverse the ONH to form the optic nerve.
- The ONH's role in protecting against ocular inflammation is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the ONH's function as a barrier to vitreous-induced inflammation.
- To examine the effects of acute ocular inflammation on ONH astrocytes and gene expression.
Main Methods:
- Intravitreal injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to induce acute neuroinflammation.
- Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to assess axonal changes (G-ratio).
- Confocal microscopy of Aldh1L1-eGFP reporter mice to analyze astrocyte morphology.
- RNA sequencing of ONH tissue to identify transcriptomic alterations.
Main Results:
- LPS induced retinal inflammation but not posterior optic nerve inflammation or ONH cell infiltration.
- TEM revealed increased G-ratio in the posterior optic nerve post-LPS injection.
- ONH astrocytes elongated along the RGC axonal axis, and transcriptomic analysis showed upregulation of immune/inflammatory pathways, with prominent astrocyte and microglia involvement.
Conclusions:
- The ONH functions as a barrier to vitreous inflammation.
- Ocular infectious insults trigger morphological and transcriptomic changes in ONH glial cells.
- Glial responses within the ONH may protect the central nervous system from inflammatory insults.
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