Figure 4

Apoptosis of cells in the retinal ganglion layer of rat eyes. A. Apoptotic cells in the retinal ganglion layer in eyes non-injected (Normal), and those 5 weeks post-injected with GFP, OPTN-GFP (OPTN), and E50K-GFP (E50K) viral vectors. A representative image from each group was shown. Retinal sections were examined by an ApopTag kit. Images (20 of 10× fields) were captured and cell counting was performed to determine the total number of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the number of apoptotic ones (pink). Scale bar, 25 μm. B. Percentage of apoptotic RGCs was calculated. Results are shown in mean ± SEM (n = 10). The values for normal control, and GFP, OPTN, and E50K groups were, respectively, 0.3 ± 0.02, 1.4 ± 0.3, 6.2 ± 0.4, and 11.7 ± 1.9. *, P < 0.0005 compared with non-injected normal and GFP controls.