Figure 9
RGC death was ameliorated in Hdac3 cKO retinas at 2 weeks but not at 4 and 8 weeks following ONC. (A) Hdac3fl/fl mice injected with AAV2-Cre/GFP retained a significantly higher percentage of the RGCs by 2, 4, and 8 weeks post ONC in comparison to injected Rosa26-Tomatofl/fl mice (*P ≤ 0.05). Retinas from Hdac3fl/fl mice injected with AAV2-Cre/GFP showed no significant cell loss at 2 weeks compared to contralateral eyes (P > 0.05), but did exhibit cell loss by 4 and 8 weeks post ONC (**P ≤ 0.05). (B) Hdac3fl/fl mice injected with AAV2-Cre/GFP also exhibited lower total numbers of CASPASE-3 positive cells 5 days following ONC in comparison to Rosa26-LacZfl/fl injected and crushed retinas (*P ≤ 0.05). (C-D) Examples of CASPASE-3 positive cells in (C) Rosa26-LacZfl/fl and (D) Hdac3fl/fl mice at 5 days post ONC. Images like these were used to collect the data graphed in (B). (Scale bar: 10 μm).