Evaluating the survival rate of axotomized retinal ganglion cells by fluorogold retrograde labeling

Objective: To evaluate the survival rate of retinal ganglion cells(RGCs) after transsection of the optic nerve using the method of fluorogold retrograde labeling. Methods: Twenty SD rats were randomly divided inObjective: To four groups: normal control group，5 d，7 d and 14 d after transsection of the optic nerve groups. The RGCs density of the normal control group and 5 d，7 d and 14 d after transsection of the optic nerve groups was observed by fluorogold retrograde labeling and quantitative anaObjective: To mical technology. Results: In the normal control group， the RGCs labeled by the fluorescent gold presented radial distribution，clear boundary and obvious cell processes without any leak. In the optic nerve transsection groups， the number of RGCs decreased with time increasing and the cell distribution was not uniform; and the debris of dead cells and cell leakage from the dead FG microglial cells were observed. In thenormal control group， the average density of RGCs of the left eye had no significant difference compared Objective: To that of the right eye(P ＞0. 05). In the 5 d，7 d and 14 d after transsection of the optic nerve groups， the number of RGCs was reduced progressively and the density of RGCs of the left eye was significantly lower than that in the normal control group(P ＜ 0. 01) ; the survival rates of RGCs in the groups of 5 d，7 d and 14 d after optic nerve transsection were 53%，38% and 13%，respectively. Conclusions: luorogold retrograde labeling is an effective method of evaluating the survival rate of axoObjective: Tomized retinal ganglion cells.