Lens Injury and Optic Nerve Crush
Objective: Assessment of retinal ganglion cell survival and axon regeneration following combined lens puncture wound and optic nerve crush injury in mature rats
This is a Lens Injury and Optic Nerve Crush protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 1 materials. Extracted from a 2000 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • mature • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Lens Puncture Wound • Optic Nerve Crush Injury • Combined Lens Injury and Nerve Crush
Primary readouts
- Retinal ganglion cell survival
- Axon regeneration beyond crush site
- Macrophage infiltration into the eye
- Müller cell activation
Key equipment and reagents
Verified items
0
Direct vendor links
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Protocol Steps
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Lens Puncture Wound
Create a small puncture wound to the lens
Note: Even when optic nerve is intact, lens injury stimulates macrophage infiltration into the eye
View evidence from paper
“a small puncture wound to the lens enhances RGC survival and enables these cells to regenerate their axons”
Optic Nerve Crush Injury
Perform optic nerve crush injury
Note: Axotomy alone causes only minimal change in GAP-43 expression in RGCs
View evidence from paper
“axotomy, either alone or combined with intraocular injections that do not infringe on the lens, causes only a minimal change in GAP-43 expression”
Combined Lens Injury and Nerve Crush
Combine nerve injury with lens puncture wound
Note: Combined injury produces synergistic effects on RGC survival and axon regeneration
View evidence from paper
“Combining nerve injury with lens puncture leads to an eightfold increase in RGC survival and a 100-fold increase in the number of axons regenerating beyond the crush site”
Intraocular Zymosan Injection
Inject Zymosan intraocularly to stimulate monocytes and induce RGC axon regeneration without lens injury
Note: Zymosan stimulates monocytes in absence of lens injury and induces RGCs to regenerate axons into distal optic nerve
View evidence from paper
“intraocular injections of Zymosan, a yeast cell wall preparation, stimulated monocytes in the absence of lens injury and induced RGCs to regenerate their axons into the distal optic nerve”