Fig. 5: A₃R agonist increases RGC survival in OHT animals.

Saline (5 µl) or 2-Cl-IB-MECA (5 µl, 1.2 µM) was administered by intravitreal injection immediately after laser-induced OHT. a Representative RGC isodensity maps generated from whole-mount preparations from 2-Cl-IB-MECA and saline-treated OHT, and contralateral retinas immunostained for Brn3a. b The number of total Brn3a⁺ cells per retina was automatically quantified from 5–6 independent retinas. c The survival rate of Brn3a⁺ cells was expressed as the percentage of the ratio between OHT-injured retinas and the contralateral retinas, from 5–6 independent experiments. d Representative images of retinal cryosections immunostained for RBPMS (red). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). e The number of RBPMS⁺ cells were counted in the entire retinal section and normalized to the length of the respective section. The survival rate of RBPMS⁺ cells was presented as the percentage of the ratio between the OHT-injured retinas and the contralateral retinas, from 5–6 independent experiments. ⁺⁺p < 0.01, ⁺⁺⁺⁺p < 0.0001, significantly different from naïve; ****p < 0.0001, significantly different from the contralateral eye; and ^#p < 0.05, significantly different from saline-treated OHT.