Uptake of Retrograde Tracers by Intact Optic Nerve Axons: A New Way to Label Retinal Ganglion Cells

Yu-Xiang Liang; Jian Yang; Ti-Fei Yuan; Kwok-Fai So

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128718

Uptake of Retrograde Tracers by Intact Optic Nerve Axons: A New Way to Label Retinal Ganglion Cells

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 11;10(6):e0128718. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128718. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Yu-Xiang Liang¹, Jian Yang², Ti-Fei Yuan³, Kwok-Fai So⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
² Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Ophthalmology, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Retrograde labelling of retinal ganglion cells with optic nerve transection often leads to degeneration of ganglion cells in prolonged experiments. Here we report that an intact optic nerve could uptake retrograde tracers applied onto the surface of the nerve, leading to high efficiency labelling of ganglion cells in the retina with long-term survival of cells. This method labelled a similar number of ganglion cells (2289±174 at 2 days) as the retrograde labeling technique from the superior colliculus (2250±94) or optic nerve stump (2279±114) after transection. This finding provides an alternative way to label retinal ganglion cells without damaging the optic tract. This will facilitate anatomical studies in identifying the morphology and connectivity of retinal ganglion cells, allowing secondary or triple labelling manipulations for long-term investigations.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Axons / metabolism*
Female
Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
Fluorescent Dyes / metabolism
Immunohistochemistry
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Optic Nerve / metabolism*
Optic Nerve Injuries / metabolism
Optic Nerve Injuries / pathology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Retinal Ganglion Cells / metabolism*
Superior Colliculi / metabolism

Substances

Fluorescent Dyes

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.1421974

Grants and funding

The work is supported by Funds of Leading Talents of Guangdong (2013), Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B14036), and Project of International, as well as Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan Science and Technology Cooperation Innovation Platform in Universities in Guangdong Province (2013gjhz0002), National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China (973 Program, 2011CB707501) (KS). The work is also supported by “Hundred Talents program”, “Qing Lan Project” of Nanjing Normal University and Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. BK20140917) (TY). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.